


Unfortunate Life of a Table Killer

by JemmyMads



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst, Gen, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Jisung is a cutie, Minho is actively holding back his sass, Verbal Abuse, astrology as a defense mechanism, because i made that a thing apparently, jilix are best friends, other idols appear, please dont read if it will hurt you, seriously 3racha is a mini fam nobody can change my mind, theres verbal abuse but not graphic at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2019-10-28 22:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 51,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17796074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemmyMads/pseuds/JemmyMads
Summary: Minho does not expect the tiny, sleep deprived teen from the library to make a permanent place in his life.He was not ready for the hurricane of one Han Jisung (and by correlation the rest of his friends because they're codependent but maybe Minho will be ok with that)





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ummmm so hey.
> 
> Obviously this is an au, nothing about this is accurate like at all. Also, bear with me I did not mean for this to get so long it was supposed to be a quick oneshot but I spiraled and created a mess.
> 
> Grades:  
> Seniors - 96/97 line  
> Juniors - 98/99 line  
> Sophomores - 00 line (cause there's a fuck ton of them oh my god)  
> Freshmen - 01/02 line

The last thing Minho expected to find in the college library at 11:30 on a windy Tuesday night was a kid asleep, curled up beneath the single table situated in the far back corner hidden by the positive psychology and art history books.

And yet on a windy Tuesday night in the college library, Minho found a kid sound asleep beneath the forgotten table, looking peaceful and content, despite the obvious bags beneath his eyes.

Side stepping the kid’s bag that laid forgotten beside the table leg, Minho set his stuff down and got comfortable, pulling out his laptop to continue his essay. He was fairly lucky that the library had still been open, as he had been kicked out of the high school library by the fussy librarian not even 15 minutes ago. Taking up residence in the college library wasn’t only okay for the local high school students, it was highly suggested to “broaden their horizons and open their eyes to college life.”

Minho called bullshit on that, but he couldn’t exactly say that to the college counselors at his school so he kept it to himself.

Besides, it _was_ helpful at times like this, when his essay was due at 3:33 online, because his teacher was a spawn of the devil himself, Minho was sure of it, and he had yet to finish the first paragraph.

So he settled in, taking a sip of his now cold tea, before picking right up where he ended in writing sentences that were equivalent to human shit on a sidewalk.

Minho nearly forgot about the kid asleep at his feet, until he heard a small groan, followed by a slightly louder one, then a loud _thunk_ that shook the table.

“Ah fu- owwwww.” The kid whined dramatically. Minho leaned back in his seat and peered beneath the table top curiously. He was hunched into himself, rubbing his forehead dejectedly while muttering some rather violent ideas about how he wanted to get back at the table for harming him, “You better watch out, I’ll get your pretty chairs and sand them down right in front of you! That’s right, sand them down into nothing you absolutely disgusting used box of rotten pears-”

“Hi there.” Minho cut off the kid’s rather hilarious, but slightly disturbing, threats.

The poor blonde haired boy shrieked, startling so badly he hit his head even harder against the table, causing him to flop backwards on to the ground with a too-loud groan.

Minho chuckled at the mysterious boy’s antics, rubbing the back of his neck as he half heartedly apologized, “Sorry man, didn’t mean to scare you. Just didn’t think that the chairs deserved to hear your, uh, _creative_ revenge ideas. No need to scare the kids.”

For the first time, the boy looked towards Minho, surprising Minho slightly when he looked so familiar. The kid had rounded, slightly rosy cheeks (matching the red spot on his forehead) and wide bambi eyes, slightly unfocused from sleep. He looked even younger than Minho originally imagined.

They probably went to school together.

“No don’t worry, I was probably traumatizing them anyways, poor chairs didn’t do shit to me, it was just this stupid fucking table that got in my way. Piece of sh-”

“Woah ok, got it. You’re not a hard stan of the table. Respectable, it’s not too great anyways. Too much wood, not enough _essence_.”

To Minho’s delight, the kid laughed loudly, grinning up at Minho, “I’m Han Jisung, by the way.”

“Lee Minho. Nice to meet you. Certainly weird circumstances though.”

Jisung scoffed slightly and rolled his eyes, “Not my fault this table is a-”

“I think I get the gist of it. You have a grudge against the table. No need to scar the chair children even further.” Minho interrupted, slipping off of his chair in order to crouch and peer at the strange kid.

“You can’t blame me, I’m an Aries.” Jisung defended himself, crossing his arms with a slight huff.

Minho’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh? And that’s an excuse now?”

Jisung was silent for a second, studying Minho with a calculating gaze(or as much of a calculating gaze as the kid could muster with those giant eyes).

“I’m actually a Virgo.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake-”

“And Virgo’s are known for being impulsive and quick to anger so I’d say I’m justified.” Jisung continued as if Minho hadn’t interrupted.

“They’re literally not though! Virgo’s are supposed to be the calmest Zodiac.” Minho argued, taking the opportunity to sit fully on the ground.

Jisung looked doubtful, “Says who?”

“The motherfucking Zodiac _for christ sake-_ ”

“Well I call bullshit on the Zodiac!” Jisung declared with a false air of finality.

“How the hell can you ‘call bullshit’ on the Zodiac that you were just using to justify your threats against Mr.Table and his beautiful chair children.”

“‘Beautiful chair children.’ Sure, put me against those chair children and they wouldn’t last a second against my dad’s chainsaw,” Jisung mimicked the sound of a chainsaw, his cheeks puffing out as he sliced his hand down, pretending the saw through an imaginary piece of wood, “ _Chuur chuur_ you rotten pieces of curd, you hear that, that’s the sound of your impending doom.”

Minho began laughing at the pure ridiculousness of the kid sitting across from him, “Jisung- hey _idiot_. Calm down man, they’re just chairs.”

Jisung’s attention turned towards Minho again, “Yeah chairs that you seemed fairly _intimate_ with just a few seconds ago when you were sighing dreamily over them and calling them _beautiful_ and _gorgeous_ and _stunning._ How do I know you’re on my side.”

“I’m not on any side, Sungie, in this absurd war against the table you’re currently hiding under.”

Minho watched in near amazement as Jisung finally seemed to calm down slightly, shoulders relaxing and a small smile stretching across his face.

“You called me Sungie.” He pointed out semi-uselessly, since Minho _was_  the one who just said it.

“Yeah, is that ok?” Minho asked, suddenly rather uncertain of the nickname that had rolled off of his tongue easily.

“What yeah of course, that’s what my hyungs call me. Well they’re not my _literal_ hyungs, just honorary but the sentiment is the same so it counts. Actually, Chan-hyung is usually the one who uses Sungie, Changbin-hyung usually just calls me kid or occasionally Ji if he’s feeling affectionate which is like never because he’s brooding enough for the both of us as it is-”

“Hold on did you say Chan? As in Bang Chan or Lee Chan?”

“Bang Chan. You know him?” Jisung perked up visibly, slipping on round specs that had been laying beside him.

“Yeah he was in the same early morning Bio lab as me last year, paired with Kim Woojin, he was almost always asleep though.” Minho cringed at his own unintentional alliteration.

Jisung nodded thoughtfully, “Sounds about right, he stays up late all the time, frankly not good for him but he won’t listen when we try to convince him to go home early. Always claims that we’re hypocrites because we stay up just as late as him but frankly it’s not our fault since hyungs should _technically_ teach us-”

“Sungie you’re rambling again.” Minho cut him off for the upteenth time since they had started their conversation.

Jisung had the decency to look slightly sheepish, “Ah, Changbin-hyung usually stops me if I start talking too much, sorry.”

“No no, it’s fine, I don’t mind it. I just don’t want you to overshare and regret it later. Plus it’s kinda funny, you don’t seem capable of holding onto one train of thought.”

The boy hummed in acknowledgement, looking thoughtfully at Minho.

Minho took the lapse in conversation to move underneath the table fully. It was cramped, especially when Jisung did the absolute bare minimum of making room by shifting his knee a _quarter of a centimeter_ backwards, like that helped in anyway. Jisung pulled his hood over his puffy hair and beamed at Minho.

“Am I right to assume that I should call you hyung?” Jisung questioned, his voice notably quieter than previously. In all honesty, Minho was surprised that the pair hadn’t yet been kicked out for the noise they had undoubtedly made.

“I believe so. I was born in 1998, a Scorpio, if you’re wondering.”

“Ah should’ve guessed you were a Scorpio, all cunning and sly and probably eating like, bird bones in your free time or something weird.”

Though Minho didn’t particularly care or pay attention to Zodiacs, he felt slightly offended at the blonde’s sudden attack on his own kind, “What the hell do you have against Scorpios? Who hurt you! You’re not any better, fucking Virgo.”

Jisung leaned forwards and tilted his head just slightly, peering at Minho through his specs which magnified his already large eyes, “I don’t trust you, Lee Minho-hyung.”

“You say that, but then you call me hyung right after which leads me to believe that you _probably_ don’t mean it!”

“Aha!,” Jisung exclaimed victoriously, “Your _slyness_ is coming out, being all observant and smart. I’m watching you hyung.”

“I hope you enjoy the view then,” Minho quipped back with a slight smirk, rendering the boy speechless. “C’mon Jisungie, tell me a little about yourself, it’s the least I deserve since you’ve distracted me from my essay that’s due in like, an hour.”

Minho leaned back against his arms leisurely, ignoring the slight burn that the rug caused his wrist.

“Well, I was born in 2000. I studied in Malaysia a few years, I like music a lot, which is how I know Chan-hyung and Changbin-hyung.”

Suddenly, something clicked for Minho.

“Oh! That’s how I know you!” He all but yelled excitedly, glad to have finally made the connection. At Jisung’s confused look, he hastily continued, “We’re in honors art division together!”

Honors Art Division was a special class offered at their school for kids interested in non traditional art forms, such as dancing, metal working, glass blowing, or lyrical writing. Though the school offered both dance classes and after school dance club, the class allowed for Minho to explore making and performing his own choreography. The class was insanely competitive and hard to get into, and those in the class typically made tight bonds with each other. There were only 3 other dancers in the class besides Minho, 2 seniors and 1 other junior named Kim Lip.

Jisung’s eyes widened, “Oh my god we are! You’re the dancer that Hoshi-hyung and Yugyeom-hyung started working with!”

“And you’re the lyrical protege that people freaked out about being let in in your freshman year!”

Jisung suddenly looked bashful, his cheeks coloring as he began to nervously play with the sleeves of his sweater, “Yeah, some people were pretty upset that I was allowed in last year, since it’s supposed to be only seniors and juniors.”

“Screw them,” Minho said, sitting up more to look at Jisung earnestly, “Seriously I’ve seen how hard you and your hyungs work. Music production isn’t easy, you totally deserve to be in that class.”

“Thanks hyung.” Jisung checked his phone and audibly gasped at the time, “Oh holy shit, Chan-hyung is gonna kill me, I said I’d be over by 11 and it’s fucking 2:30 what the fuck. He’s called me 23 times, and Changbin-hyung called me 15.”

Minho chuckled, “A bit protective?”

“You have no idea.” Jisung sighed, “I guess I should go before they call the cops and report me missing- because they would.”

Minho mulled over his options as he watched Jisung get his bag situated and double check everything in it. His essay would no doubt be late anyways at this point, so there was no point in him staying. And besides, Jisung was moving sluggishly, his actions laced with the tell tale signs of sleep deprivation, there was no way in hell Minho was letting the kid walk alone like this.

“I’ll walk you, you’ll probably get lost otherwise,” He stated calmly as he crawled out from beneath the table. He began to gather up his stuff, tuning out Jisung’s argument about why he definitely shouldn’t walk him all the way to Chan’s house.

“-and finally, I’m a fully capable human being who can function properly and does not need a babysitter!” Jisung finished after a solid minute, on his hands and knees looking for something beneath the table.

“Hey Sungie?”

“Hm?”

“I have your specs, they slipped off your nose while you were complaining about me being a Scorpio.”

Jisung bounced up and grabbed the glasses out of Minho’s outstretched hand, ignoring the older’s victorious smirk, “That proves absolutely nothing, hyung.”

“Of course not, now let’s get you home.” Minho appeased the younger as they started for the doors of the library, passing the two other residents in the main area on the way.

“Not home, Chan-hyung’s house, which I guess is basically my home so you’re right. We’ll take me home.”

“Why is it basically your home?” Minho asked, feeling a pang of worry at the younger’s words as he held the door open for them so they could slip into the chilly early morning. The streetlights casting eerie shadows around them that visibly distressed Jisung, if the way he moved closer to Minho’s side said anything about it.

“Ah, I guess just that I spend the majority of my time there anyway, don’t like going to my house all that much. Chan-hyung and his family are all so _nice_ , it really is like he’s my older brother. If we went to my actual house, there’s no doubt that the door would be locked and they wouldn’t answer my calls anyw-” Jisung cut himself off abruptly, “Sorry, that was probably too much information I didn’t mean to like, weird you out or anything.”

“Jisungie it’s fine, really. I’m sorry to hear that you don’t have a great home life, but it’s good that Chan-hyung has your back.” Minho bumped their shoulders together gently, smiling softly down at the younger, “And hey, now you have another hyung who is more than willing to harbor your bratty ass if you ever need it.”

Jisung looked up at him hopefully, the ‘brat’ comment completely flying over his head, “Really? Even though we just met and the majority of our conversation I threatened chairs for?”

“Yes _really_ you daft child. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean. That’s something you’ll have to get used to about me.”

“I think that’s nice,” Jisung commented, “Not a lot of people are willing to just cut to the chase. Changbin-hyung is like that.”

Jisung turned them down another street, slightly less lit than the last few. They carried on in silence, only the wind and the scuff of their shoes providing them noise. Minho felt his nose become runny from the wind chill and he rubbed at it with the back of his hand in a vain attempt to stop it. Beside him, Jisung sniffled as his nose and cheeks painted red from the cold winter air. After a few minutes, they slowed down in front of a small, but welcoming looking house.

“Look, Minho-hyung, my life at home really isn’t as bad as you’re probably imagining. It’s just, my parents and I fight more often than we don’t so it’s easier for the both of us if I just stay away sometimes. I have 2 younger siblings, they don’t need to hear that anyways.”

Minho rested a hand on Jisung’s shoulder, “Thank you for trusting me with that. If you need anything let me know ok, you know what here-” Minho took out his phone and opened it, handing it to the blonde, “Put your contact in.”

Jisung typed it in quickly, sending himself a text so he knew Minho’s number too. A light flickered on in Chan’s house, catching both of their attentions.

“Ah, I really better go before I cause him a heart attack. Thank you hyung, for everything.” Jisung surprised Minho by hugging him suddenly and tightly before turning and bounding through the small front yard to the lit up window, pushing it open and putting a leg through before he turned around and shouted, “Sit with us at lunch tomorrow asshole!”

Minho grinned and gave him a firm middle finger, which he returned before he disappeared from view as a hand reached out and tugged him fully into the house.

That night, Minho took his time walking home, his essay for their stupid literature book the last thing on his mind.

  


Minho had moved to their bustling town the previous year, just in time to start his sophomore year. His mom and dad wanted to be closer to his grandmother, whose health had recently been declining. Minho hadn’t been too attached to their last home anyways, and he had been excited about the new beginning.

The first friend he made was a fellow sophomore, Kevin Moon, who had taken it upon himself to show Minho around the school on their first day. Kevin and his best friend Jacob had all but adopted Minho by the end of the first day, and had introduced him to the rest of their friend group.

They were the first ones who ever mentioned one Han Jisung, the freshman who had miraculously gotten into Art Division, the most sought after and competitive class that the school offered.

Minho hadn’t paid that bit of gossip much mind, opting instead to settle in and get used to his new life.

  


**Bang Chan (Bio)**

 

_4:34am_

 

Hey Minho, thanks for getting Jisungie safely home. The idiot

claims that he lost track of time on hw, but I’m almost certain

he just fell asleep at the back of the library again.

 

Ahaha, sorry long text, just thanks for keeping him safe.

  
  


The first two classes were a somewhat haze for Minho, having had less than 15 minutes of sleep the night before. He had almost opted out of the first half of the school day in order to sleep, but Seungmin had promptly pointed out that “you can’t just _opt_ out of school, Minho-hyung. Don’t you think I would’ve already if I could have? At least _you_ don’t have to deal with the Sunshine Twins on a daily basis. So get your lazy ass out of bed.”

After that, Minho had hurried himself minimally to not completely disappoint the fiery sophomore.

When time came for Art Division, Minho found himself more excited than usual at the prospect of seeing the wide eyed sophomore whom he had befriended the night before.

He was the third student in class, moving to the “dancer” table near the middle of class, waving in greeting to Kevin, who had gotten into the class because of his amazing illustration ability, and his guitarist best friend Jacob Bae. (Who, yes, did get some light teasing from his group of friends for his last name).

Students began filtering in slowly. Park Jihyo smiled warmly at Minho as she moved to get her apron on; a practicing dessert decorator, she donated all the food she made to nearby orphanages and homeless shelters. Kim Yerim joined her a few seconds later, also slipping on an apron as she began talking animatedly to the older about the upcoming choir showcase.

Hoshi and Yugyeom entered together in an energetic bundle, settling into their seats across from Minho and greeting him happily.

Kang Yeosang came in next, followed by Hoshi’s friend Minghao, both of which were metal workers. Kim Lip right after them with her friend Jo Haseul, the only glass worker currently in the class.

Right as the bell was about to ring, the final three students hurried into class together. First Changbin, who had a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. Then Jisung in an oversized hoodie, specs perched on his nose as he tripped over himself into class. Chan rushed in directly after him, grabbing Jisung’s upper arm to steady the younger, carrying both of their backpacks as they made their way to their corner of the room together.

The teacher came in behind them and gave a few deadline reminders that were coming up before dismissing them to their work. In an instant, the dance group was at the front of the class, pushing away tables to make room for them in a noisy, messy burst of activity. Hoshi pulled the chalkboard away from in front of the whiteboard, which held 2 weeks’ work of new choreography that they were creating together for the upcoming showcase. While Yugyeom and Lip started debating about their most recent changes, Minho started stretching lightly, his eyes trained on the three producers in the corner.

Chan and Changbin were crowded around Chan’s laptop, the older describing something to the younger as they messed around with the sound of a steel drum quietly. Pressed against Chan’s side was Jisung’s small frame, the sophomore writing fervently in his journal, most likely lyrics for their new track.

As Minho watched them work, Jisung nudged Chan’s side to show the older something in the notebook, pointing in succession with his finger as he animatedly described his idea, his voice carrying over the general chatter of the classroom.

“Minho, you’re staring.” Hoshi pointed out rather needlessly, sidling up next to Minho to join him in stretching. “Not that I’m judging, I’m sure you see me ogling Wonwoo’s ass every time he comes in here cause damn he’s go-”

“Ah hyung! No need to describe Wonwoo-hyung’s ass to me _again_. Trust me, you’ve scarred that into my mind.”

Hoshi had the audacity to actually _giggle_ as he twisted into a back stretch, “Suit yourself, I don’t think you mind it all that much, honestly, I think you actually enjoy it!”

Minho pushed at Hoshi’s face, “Ew hyung, never. I could’ve lived my life happily without knowing all your stupid little fantasies about Wonwoo. Especially that one with the garden gloves, honestly what the fuck was that.”

Hoshi cackled loudly, head thrown with no restraint, the sound traveling around the class and gaining a few of their classmate’s attention, “Don’t kinkshame me Minho, I think you’d rather enjoy a few of the things I’m into.”

“Leave that for Wonwoo-hyung. Keep me out of it.” Minho stressed adamantly.

Hoshi sighed wistfully, “If only, Minho, if only.”

Hoshi had been sporting the biggest crush on his best friend and self proclaimed arch nemesis Wonwoo (when Minho and Yugyeom had tried to explain that everyday people couldn’t have arch nemeses, Hoshi had pretended not to understand Korean for 2 days). Wonwoo, of course, returned the feelings, but both of them firmly believed that it was impossible for the other to like them, so they both refused to do anything about it.

It was driving everybody involved insane.

Their conversation ended there as Yugyeom began directing Hoshi in some new moves to see if they fit and Lip began working Minho through the new section they had just agreed upon.

  


At their brief break in the middle of class, Minho proposed the idea he had (geniusly) come up with.

“So, I’m sure you’re all well aware that we’ve been struggling to agree on a song,” He paused to watch the other three nod their heads in agreement, “I had this idea, why don’t we ask Chan and his group to write us something?”

They all seemed to ponder over the idea for a second before Yugyeom spoke up, “I think they call themselves ‘3racha’, and that’s a pretty good idea, Minho. The song can be built around our choreography instead of the other way around for once.”

“And, it will actually fit each of our styles instead of us changing our styles to fit the music,” Lip nodded, “That’s a really good idea Minho.”

Minho smiled at the praise, turning to Hoshi for final thoughts. The older studied Minho for a moment, before looking over and watching the producers, 3racha apparently, work. “I think that could work out really nicely. We just need to get them to agree.”

“We can talk to them at the end of class, for now let’s continue, we were making really good progress.” Yugyeom decided nodding at them and getting up to resume where they had left off. The remaining three took a last sip of water before joining him.

  
  


Yugyeom and Minho were the two who approached the young producers at the end of class while Hoshi and Lip moved tables back in place.

The music group’s corner was a confusing mess of mixing boards, recording equipment, and loose papers with messy characters written across them. They, along with the dance group, were the only ones who had a spare key to the room for when they wanted to stay later into the night for projects. (Though they were under strict instructions to leave the room before 9 at night, they often disregarded the rule to stay well into the night. Minho knew with certainty that there were times that 3racha ended up spending the night.)

Chan glanced over as they approached and he turned in his chair to face them with a bright smile, “Yugyeom, Minho, what can I do for you guys.”

Beside him, Jisung’s head whipped upwards, his eyes finding Minho’s and offering the older his wide smile, which Minho returned graciously.

“Well, we actually came on business.” Yugyeom supplied as Changbin returned from packing up his bag, sitting on the table beside where Jisung was working.

Chan looked mildly surprised, “Oh?”

“Yeah. We were thinking, if 3racha wasn’t too swamped with work, maybe you guys could write the song for us to perform to for the showcase.”

The trio looked intrigued by the idea, exchanging looks that Minho couldn’t discern.

“Sounds interesting,” Chan said carefully, “How soon would you need the song? Or songs?”

“Most likely songs, plural.” Minho spoke up for the first time, “Probably only two or three, and in two weeks? So that we have two weeks to practice with them before the performance.”

Chan glanced at the younger two. Changbin’s expression was carefully blank, but Jisung was grinning ear to ear, “Hyung let’s do it! We’ve never done something like this before, it’ll be fun.”

“Sungie it’ll be a lot of work, different mixing than we’re used to,” Chan directed at the youngest, before addressing Minho and Yugyeom, “Can I talk this through with them over lunch and let you guys know by fourth block? We’ve never built a song around choreography before.”

Yugyeom was quick to reassure his friend, “Of course Chan, we completely understand, this came out of nowhere, just let us know when you come to a decision.”

Chan smiled gratefully, “Thanks Gyeomie, Minho. We’ll see you guys later.”

Yugyeom and Minho were walking to their bags, where the other half of the dance group were waiting patiently for them, when a familiar voice called out, “Minho-hyung! You said you’d eat lunch with us!”

Minho turned around to see Jisung standing on top of his chair, staring expectantly at Minho with a serious expression.

Minho smiled widely at the younger, “Idiot, give me a second you drama queen, I’m grabbing my stuff.”

When Minho turned back to the dance group, they were smiling knowingly at him.

He huffed and grabbed his bag mock grumpily, “Shut it all of you. I don’t wanna hear a peep.”

“But that was so cute! He’s such a cutie, we approve!” Hoshi gave him two thumbs up.

Minho left hurriedly before the other two could chime in.

  


The trio led him down the hallways and up to the rooftop garden that was open to students who wanted to eat outside. It was measly and underdeveloped, the plants under kept, but the fresh air was a welcome gift compared to the stuffy halls of their cramped high school. As they walked to their lunch destination Jisung told Minho about his new song, using terms that Minho could only vaguely understand and talking a bit too fast for Minho to truly keep up with. Despite that, Minho nodded along to everything the younger said, making small noises of acknowledgement where he hoped was appropriate. Changbin shot Minho a small smile at one point, his eyes holding pity for the fellow junior. Once they got to the stairs, Chan turned to remind Jisung to _breath_ while talking, the blonde obediently gulping in air before continuing his ramble.

Once at the rooftop, the group settled down on the ground with senior Woojin, who had been in early morning Bio with Minho, and freshman Jeongin, who grinned at them as they approached.

“So you guys successfully kidnapped another one?” Jeongin quipped to the group as they settled in, accepting the bag of chips that Changbin passed him.

“We didn’t _kidnap_ him,” Changbin scoffed and rolled his eyes at the accusation, “Cults get too much negative reporting if they do that, c’mon Innie, I thought I taught you better than that.”

“Ah, my mistake. Did you _skillfully convince him against his will_.”

Jisung and Jeongin laughed together as Changbin reached over and swatted the freshman’s head gently, “Brat. This is Lee Minho, he’s in our Art Division class, dancer.”

“Nice to meet you!”

“You too, Jeonginnie.”

Three more students loudly came out the door of the roof, gaining the group’s attention at the chaos. One of them Minho recognized as Seungmin, surprised that he had never known that this was Seungmin’s group of “disgusting crackhead junkbucket friends that I would commit murder for.” The other two, a tall boy with a mole beneath his eyelid and a slightly smaller boy with dyed dusty orange hair and freckles decorating his cheeks, Minho had never seen before.

Seungmin greeted him before he had the chance to say anything, “Hyung? What are you doing here?”

“Hold on, how do you two know each other?” Jisung cut in, looking between the two expectantly.

“How do _you_ know him, Jisung?” Seungmin shot back smugly, sitting down beside Woojin who wordlessly watched the exchange as he shared a bag of grapes with Chan.

“I met him at the library last night, “Jisung stated primly, taking a small sip of his water, “I was doing homework while he was writing an essay.”

“Bullshit.” Seungmin exclaimed at the same time Minho groaned out, “Holy shit that’s the furthest thing from the truth.”

Which of course gained everyone’s attention.

Seungmin looked him dead in the eye, “Spill. Now.”

Minho quirked an eyebrow at him but complied, “He was asleep, _like a dumbass_ , underneath some old table at the very back of the library. When he woke up he started threatening the chairs and table, then lied and told me he was an Aries, and said he didn’t trust me because I was a Scorpio.” Minho summed up quickly. “I’m gonna add one more time just for my own sake, he is an utter _mess_.”

Beside him, Jisung whined and buried his face in his hands, knocking his specs off of his face, though Chan caught them easily, so Minho guessed it was a rather common occurrence, “How do I cancel this friendship? I want to return it to the hell hole that I bought it from, full refund. Good friends not found here, I only have _trash bags_ as friends.”

The boy with the mole laughed generously at Jisung, reaching across the circle to ruffle Jisung’s hair, before offering his hand to Minho with a smile, “I’m Hwang Hyunjin.”

“Lee Minho. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Lee Felix,” The freckled boy piped up between a bite of his sandwich, eliciting a complaint from Changbin which he seemed to completely ignore, “If you wanted to know.”

Minho smiled and waved to him, “Of course, nice to meet you Felix!”

“No no no,” Seungmin cut in, making a large “X” motion with his arms, “Absolutely not ‘nice to meet you Felix’! Felix is one half of the Sunshine Twins, hyung, you have no idea the torture it is to be friends with them. Your noncommittal ass is not ready for that responsibility, especially since you’ll be a hyung to them.”

“Who’s the other half,” Minho asked curiously, tilting his head as he popped another strawberry into his mouth.

“Jisung is.”

“I am.”

Changbin and Jisung said at the same time, looking at each other, startled.

Seungmin took over from there, “Felix and Jisung were born a day apart. They’re both the _loudest_ people you will ever meet, and their energy challenges that of the battery bunny, you know the scrawny pink one with the drum, yeah him. They are impossible!”

Felix scowled, “We’re sitting right here.”

“Rich coming from you.” Jeongin mumbled, earning himself a gentle shove from Woojin.

“Seungmin’s a little mad at them right now because they kept him up late a few days ago with conspiracy theory videos and caused him to be late to a mandatory early morning choir practice.” Chan leaned over to explain to Minho quietly, ever the peacemaker.

“Demon children born from the sun rays of hell.”  Seungmin muttered bitterly beneath his breath, but let the matter rest.

“They’re not as bad as he’s making them out to be,” Changnin spoke up, “I mean yeah, they’re pretty bad at times, never give Ji caffeine after like, 8pm cause he won’t sleep for days-”

“Not that he sleeps anyways.” Chan murmured.

“-hypocrite, you broccoli headed menace. Anyways, they’re a lot, but they’re soft sweethearts most of the time and- am I sounding soft? I sound soft don’t I.”

“Yes hyung, and it’s absolutely precious. It’s so cute when you get all squishy and sentimental and I just wanna…” Jeongin trailed off, miming pinching a baby’s cheeks with a wide smile.

“Do that and I won’t hesitate to kick you down the stairs.” Changbin attempted to sound gruff. He fell pretty far short.

Jeongin waved him off, “Empty threats. Like always.”

“So Minho,” Hyunjin addressed him, “You’re in Art Division for dance?”

Minho swallowed the food he was chewing and nodded, “Yeah, it’s me, Yugyeom-hyung, Hoshi-hyung, and Kim Lip.”

“How’d you get in?”

“Well,” Minho shifted, a bit uncomfortable at the sudden attention of the other 8 boys on him, “I created my own modern dance routine to a classical Spanish piano piece, I had to submit a folder of choreographs that I made, and I got a letter of recommendation from Jung Hoseok-hyung, the senior that graduated from the program last year.”

Hyunjin’s eyes were wide, his mouth slightly agape, “Hoseok-ssi? He wrote your letter of recommendation?”

Minho nodded, looking at Jisung in slight confusion.

Hyunjin leaned backwards and ran his hand through his hair, turning towards Chan with a despairing look “Oh man hyung, I’m never gonna get in. Did you _hear_ that? He got Hoseok’s letter of recommendation, that guy’s a legend!”

“I’m sure you’re gonna get in Hyunjinnie, you’re an amazing dancer and a skilled choreographer, they’re gonna be blown away by your talent.” Chan reassured the younger.

Minho cut in, “You wanna audition for Art Division?”

“Yeah, me and Felix are hoping to get in for dance. We’ve been working with Ten-hyung and Jungkook-hyung on our routines but… God it’s nerve wracking.”

“Well, you’re working with the right people. The only reason they’re not in the class this year is because it conflicted with their upper level classes, but they’re highly respected amongst the Art Division students.”

Hyunjin and Felix shared a look before they both looked back at Minho with small smiles. “Really, you think it’ll help?” Felix asked hopefully.

“Of course it will.” Minho stated, “Trust me on this. And hey, if you want me to watch and give tips or go over your choreography portfolio to refine it, I’d be more than happy to.”

Suddenly he had an armful of Lee Felix, “Ah thank you hyung that means so much to us, can I call you hyung? I’m gonna call you hyung. Thank you~”

Minho laughed and wrapped his arms around the enthusiastic sophomore. “Of course Felix, I’m happy to help.”

Felix pulled away from him, still grinning as he settled back into his spot and began talking excitedly with Hyunjin.

Minho personally knew the struggle and pressure that was put on students trying out for Art Division. He had lost an unhealthy amount of weight from anxiety when he had been preparing. Hoshi told him about fainting during the month leading up to his audition, Wonwoo finding him collapsed in the middle of the practice room nearly an hour later. Jacob had to stop playing guitar for a month after his audition because his fingers had been rubbed raw, to the point of bleeding, due to all his practice. The class was highly selective and the students applying were deeply dedicated to their area, making being accepted into the class all the more important.

There was a small nudge to his side and Minho glanced over to see Jisung watching him.

“May I help you, Mr. Table killer?”

“I didn’t actually kill him.” Jisung claimed with a wave of his hand, before darkly adding, “But I sure as hell wanted to.”

“If a table shows up dismembered on the side of the highway, I will not defend your honor. I will turn you in myself for your atrocious acts.”

“Oh yeah?”

Minho straightened, “Yeah bitch, try me.”

“You and what evidence, you day old lunch bologna.”

“You have really fucking weird insults, man.”

“And you have some freaky chair fetish!”

“Woah what the fuck,” Woojin interrupted their conversation, “Are we talking about fetishes? Because like, sure man, you like what you like, but this group has got some weird fixations and I don’t wanna scare you away-”

“He’s kidding!” Minho exclaimed, mortified that someone had heard their strange argument. Beside him, Jisung was giggling like crazy, attempting to muffle it into his sleeve covered hand to no avail. “He’s kidding, hyung, it was a joke from last night. Or I guess technically this morning.”

“I am 100 percent not kidding, hyung. He was getting all up close and personal with those chairs, probably popped a bo-”

Minho wasted no time in lunging at Jisung, knocking them both to the ground as he grappled to get his hand across the younger’s _stupid, messed up, annoying_ mouth. Jisung cackled wildly, wrestling with Minho’s arms to avoid the older’s censorship. Minho finally succeed in securing his hand over the younger’s mouth.

He glared down at him, “Expose my ass and I tell Chan about the time Hoshi-hyung caught you spending two nights in a row in the production studio.”

Jisung’s eyes went wide with fear and he nodded his head frantically. Minho pulled away from him, satisfied with having the upper hand over the impossible force that was Han Jisung.

He helped Jisung back into a sitting position and shifted him slightly so he could brush off the blonde’s back for him.

Jisung held his hand out to Minho, “Agree to hold each other’s filthy little secrets against each other until the most inappropriate time?”

Minho shook his hand firmly, “Never say the word filthy in my presence again.”

“I guess I should’ve seen that coming.”

  


**Sungie (Serial Table Killer)**

 

_1:02pm_

 

3racha would be happy to help your sorry

asses

Oops, Chan-hyung is telling me not to say that

“Unprofessional, Jisung, goodness”

He sounds even more like an old man in text

god

Anyway, meet us in the AD class after school so

we can watch your routine?

 

**Minho hyungie (Chair Fetish EW)**

_1:07pm_

 

Sounds good, see ya then Sungie. Don’t kill any tables when hyungs aren’t there to stop you

  


**Sungie (Serial Table Killer)**

 

_1:08pm_

 

I hope you like the feeling of chopsticks up your

ass.

  


Minho entered the AD class to find Chan, Jisung and Yugyeom already there. Jisung was sitting on one of the art tables, laptop balanced (barely) on his lap and notebook open next to him. Chan was sat at his usual station, turned facing towards the front of the classroom. Both of the music producers were in a fit of laughter as Yugyeom illustrated some elaborate story about him and his best friend Bambam on the chalkboard.

Jisung greeted him as he set his stuff down on settled on a stool at the table Jisung was sitting on. They made pleasant talk as they waited for the others to come in. Changbin and Lip came in discussing their chem test, followed shortly by a sulking Hoshi and a beaming Wonwoo.

“I lost a bet.” Was the only explanation the older provided, which elicited a bright laugh from his partner in crime.

Last to come in were Kevin and Jacob. Chan had asked the specialty guitarist to come and watch in case they decided they wanted a guitar accompaniment in the tracks. And of course, where one of the Canadians went, the other was sure to follow. The dancers began stretching and discussing their plan of action, not used to such a big group of viewers on such a rough draft choreography. Wonwoo and Kevin moved to one of the middle desks, Kevin pulling out his sketchbook and pens while Wonwoo pulled out some Calc homework to work on. Jacob perched himself on the same table Jisung was on, settling into a light conversation with the sophomore as Changbin and Chan set up various sound recorders and cameras around the dance area.

Hoshi called everyone’s attention, “Alright my lovely classmates and my not so lovely arch nemesis who I _shall_ defeat mark my words-”

Wonwoo whooped proudly

“-but that royal ass whooping must wait. For now, bare with our very rough draft and incomplete choreo that we’ve created with no music and will probably be complete shit _ok let’s go!_ ”

Hoshi bound into his position as everybody in the room laughed at his antics and Jisung enthusiastically clapped for them.

Yugyeom counted them, and then they were gone. The only thing was dance dance _dance_. Each step, each turn, twist and leap, consumed Minho. They were steady through the first group part, working in perfect sync. Then it was Hoshi and Minho’s duet. Hoshi was about the emotion, about conveying everything he felt through his movements. His dance style was entrancing. Minho complimented this well. He aspired to be able to show emotion as well as Hoshi could, but held the title of the water dancer. His movements were fluid and gentle. He moved as a summer breeze would. With a final head roll and complicated step, they moved from the center for Yugyeom and Lip to take center stage. Their movements were more pointed, more forceful, the kind that demanded attention. Then it was Lip’s solo, as entrancing at the girl herself. Then Minho was center again, dancing to music that wasn’t there. They danced through half of Hoshi’s solo before they came to the end of their choreography, having yet to get to Yugyeom’s solo and their ending stage.

They stood, panting for a split second in the silent classroom, before their classmates began clapping for them accompanied by Jisung and Wonwoo cheering loudly.

Jisung brought his water from his bag as Chan patted his back proudly, “God you were amazing. That’s gonna blow them away.”

“Hyung you were amazing! When you did the-” Jisung attempted to recreate one of his twists, still clutching Minho’s water bottle and nearly spilling it all over himself. Minho reached out and steadied the sophomore at his shoulders, “It was really good hyung.”

“Thanks Chan-hyung, Sungie. Hope we gave you something good to work with.”

The producers shared a look before Chan spoke up, “Something _excellent_ to work with. We’re starting tonight. As in like, right now.”

“Yeah, we’ll go over all the footage we got and the audio of your steps and start with some back beats, then focus on the more prominent part of the track.” Jisung explained to him, his lips set in a serious expression, “Then we’ll probably discuss if you guys would like lyrics once we have the basics of the tracks decided and recorded.”

Jisung trailed off, looking thoughtfully at the wall and continuing to murmur ideas to himself. Chan tucked the smaller underneath his arm, “He gets like this when he’s excited for projects. Mind working faster than he can process.”

“Stupefying.”

“Annoying is a better adjective,” Changbin said as he joined them, cameras carefully held in his arms, “Oh wait, are we describing Jisung’s rambling habit?”

“No his overworking habit.”

“Ah in that case; mind numbingly stupid, if you ask me.”

“Hypocritical of you.” Chan pointed out.

“Your entire existence is a hypocritical statement hyung.” Changbin bit back. “I’m gonna start downloading the footage and audio.”

Chan nodded his acknowledgement.

“Hey, do I get a say in your guys’s overworking tonight just for us? Cause I feel like I should get some kind of say in it.” Minho asked seriously, worry building up at the mention of their tendency to work the night away. “And for the record, my say would be like, a very firm ‘no’”

“Nope,” Chan popped his ‘p’ pointedly, “But, if you want, we’re probably gonna order take out from down the street for dinner, you can stay and eat with us. Woojin and Seungmin might join us after choir practice.”

Minho smiled, “I will never turn down free food and an opportunity to torment Seungmin.”

 

Minho sat with Kevin and Jacob at one of the front art tables and worked diligently on his homework.

Well, pretty diligently.

Semi diligently.

He honestly played Whale Trails and talked to Jisung more often than he even looked in the general direction of his homework.

Kevin was tracing over one of his sketches with dark blue pen, and Jacob was listening to music as he finished his environmental science homework. After around an hour, the pair left bidding goodbye to the rest of the classroom’s occupants

3racha were, for the most part, in their own little world at their area. The tapping of Chan’s keyboard and Jisung’s humming beneath his breath created a serene atmosphere. Changbin was combing through the footage they had gotten, marking every step and particularly sharp movement in a notebook. Minho noted the habit that Jisung had of attempting to push his glasses up his nose with whatever available body part, whether it be his shoulder or scrunching up his nose, the kid rarely seemed to use his hand for the task.

Of course, the mood was shattered when Hoshi and Wonwoo returned with their Chinese takeout.

“Alright hoes, I’m here and ready for a very generous tip for my troubles.” Hoshi entered the room in very _Hoshi_ fashion.

Wonwoo smacked the back of his head none too lightly, “Do not tip him _anything_. He complained the entire time and then ate one of the egg rolls.”

Hoshi whined about Wonwoo spilling his secret as Wonwoo handed Chan the three (yes 3, they were growing boys) bags of food.

“Anyways, we’ll leave you guys to your insanity, I have to take this one,” Wonwoo aggressively pointed over his shoulder to Hoshi, “to dinner, we’re meeting up with his noona.”

“Ah, alright have fun. And thank you hyung.” Chan replied, taking the bags and smiling at the two olders.

“By germs! Please don’t pull another all nighter for us!” Hoshi called as Wonwoo dragged him through the doorway.

When the rowdy seniors were gone, Chan forced Jisung and Changbin away from their work with a twist of their ears. Once the mopey pair were sitting cross legged on the ground and Chan was satisfied they wouldn’t escape, he took three threatening steps towards Minho, who scrambled from his seat and held up his hands in surrender, “Hey woah, I’m obedient, no need to drag me over.”

“Should we wait for dumb and dumber?” Jisung asked as they began pulling all the food from the bags and setting them on the ground in front of them.

“Jisung, you do know that you and Felix are dumb and dumber, right?” Changbin didn’t glance at the blonde as he continued to unpack things and hand out chopsticks.

Jisung looked genuinely confused, “What? Felix and I are the Sunshine Twins, Woojin and Seungmin are dumb and dumber!”

Chan sighed and patted Jisung’s hair pityingly and Minho shook his head, “Oh you poor soul. Even I know that they call you dumb and dumber.”

“But you guys always use the term in front of us! We kind of assumed that it was Woojin-hyung and Seungminnie because they weren’t there…” Jisung trailed off and realization seemed to dawn on him, “Oh my god, Felix and I are dumb and dumber.”

“If it helps,” Changbin said between a bite of braised green beans, “We really thought you guys knew. You always laughed along to the jokes.”

“Because we didn’t know they were about us!” Jisung cried despairingly. Before he could continue with his complaining, Chan stuffed a piece of chicken into his mouth. Jisung angrily chewed while glaring at Chan for a second, before relaxing backwards and chewing contentedly, having come to terms with fate, his glasses fogging minimally from the heat radiating from the food.

There was a knock at the door and two heads popped into the window, smiling brightly at them. Changbin rolled his eyes but got up to let them in anyways.

Dinner was about as peaceful as it could get with the group of friends. Seungmin and Jisung bickered good naturedly with Changbin joining in every now and then. Chan and Woojin filled Minho in on some (rather embarrassing) stories of their friend group and invited him to their weekly sleepover at Seungmin’s house on Friday night.

Afterwards, the three non producers bid goodbye to the other three before leaving them to their work. Seungmin invited Woojin and Minho over for video games with Felix, but both declined with complaints of having more homework to do.

  
  


**Minho hyungie (Chair Fetish EW)**

 

_6:46am_

 

Hey hope you haven’t worked yourself to

death. I’m getting coffee before school,

do you want anything?

Sungie?

Text me if you think of anything.

  


Minho got Jisung a medium latte and scone from the college cafe on his way to school (Changbin and Chan were both getting Americanos because Minho panicked and was sure that they wanted whatever would give them the most energy.) Minho himself got a latte and banana muffin, the same thing he got every Thursday morning.

It was earlier than Minho usually left, worry and protectiveness for the three producers urging him to get to school early to check on them. The lack of reply from Jisung only spiked his unease.

Once the drinks were safely in a carrier and the pastries were tucked into Minho’s backpack, he set off once again. The early morning air was refreshing, the sun just beginning to warm up the sidewalk.

Minho used his key to enter the Art Division door, entering as quietly as he could in case, on the very off chance, any of his classmates were asleep. Changbin was laying on one of the large art tables, backpack beneath his head and jacket draped over his body, clearly asleep. Chan and Jisung were both over at their station still. Chan was leaning back in his chair, earbuds in as he watched a clip of the choreography on repeat. Jisung was sat beside him, hunched over his signature notebook as he scribbled away in it, occasionally looking up to refer to something on his computer screen that Minho couldn’t see.

The opening of the door caught the youngest’s attention, as his head whipped towards Minho and a small smile graced his face. “Good morning hyung!”

“Morning Sungie, you look like shit, how’s it getting along?” Minho asked lightly, moving across the room towards the two awake boys.

Jisung sat back and stretched his arms over his head a small yawn interrupting his reply, “Pretty good, still on the like _super_ preliminary stages. Just trying to decide where the tune should change, what kind of emotion should run behind each track, the usual. And you barely look much better hyung”

“Right,” Minho quipped sarcastically, “Just your normal and easy emotions and tempo changes, sure.” He let the last comment made by the younger slide, just this once.

Jisung rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean.”

Chan finally seemed to understand that someone else had entered, as he paused the looped video and turned to check who it was. A tired smile, similar to Jisung’s, stretched over his face when he saw the dancer. He pulled the earbuds from his ears and turned to fully face the other two.

“Hey Minho, how was your night?”

“Probably a lot more restful than yours.” Chan’s responding chuckle sounded exhausted even to the unpracticed ear. It reminded Minho of why he was there so early anyways, “Oh! I brought you guys some coffee, and Sungie I grabbed you a pastry.”

Both perked up at the promise of an energy reboost.

“Coffee?”

“Food!”

They chorused at the same time. Chan was beaming now, exhaustion still tainting his face but signfigantly less, and Jisung made grabby hands towards Minho. Minho happily relented and handed the pair their drinks, setting Changbin’s in the center of their workstation to avoid the likely incident of Jisung knocking it off by accident. He fished out the pastries and passed Jisung his scone, pulling out his own muffin to begin eating.

“Please tell me you guys got at least some sleep.” Minho managed to get out between bites of his muffin.

Chan and Jisung just shook their heads shamelessly.

“I tried to get Sungie to sleep around 5 this morning but he just put in his earbuds and tuned me out.” Chan told Minho, giving Jisung an accusing look, who in turn innocently chewed his scone. “In all honesty, it’s a miracle that Binnie even fell asleep, we were both surprised.”

Jisung nodded enthusiastically to that, “He doesn’t usually sleep when we have major projects like this. Sometimes he can be even worse than me and Channie-hyung.”

“That’s a lie and you know it.” A raspy voice spoke from beside them, startling Jisung so badly that he spilled some of his latte on the ground. They collectively looked towards Changbin who was looking worse for the wear.

Minho wordlessly handed his fellow junior his coffee.

Changbin carried on with his accusations, “I, unlike you two, at least have a regular sleep schedule when we don’t have projects. You two, on the other hand, barely get eight hours of sleep a month.”

Chan and Jisung loudly protested Changbin’s claim with insults and threats. Neither of them refuted it by saying that he was outright wrong, which was more than disconcerting. It was obviously highly exaggerated, no human being would be alive without more than eight hours of sleep a month, but the mere idea of Jisung and Chan having such unhealthy sleeping habits made Minho’s worry for the trio, especially the youngest of them, intensify.

  


Art Division that day was much like the day before, the dance group progressing further with their choreography while Changbin consulted Jacob about acoustic guitar chords and Chan and Jisung worked tirelessly (or very tire-full in Minho’s opinion) on the beginning of a backtrack for the group choreography.

Minho sat with the same group of friends again for lunch, getting used to their dynamic and settling himself down with them, hopefully for the long run. Minho wasn’t unpopular at the school, he was generally well liked amongst his peers and didn’t have any real enemies. But he didn’t have his own group of friends to waste time with. He usually flitted from one group to the next, sometimes spending lunch with Kevin and his friends, other times he was in the dance practice room with Ten and some of his friends, and still other odd times he found himself in the French classroom with a fellow junior named Mark and his group of friends who were all sophomores.

Minho had never settled into any of them though. They were all welcoming, impossibly nice, and made Minho feel included, but they were never _it_ for him.

This group though, they could be it for him.

After school Minho was standing by his locker discussing choreo techniques with Hyunjin when he got a text from Chan

 

**Bang Chan (Bio)**

 

_3:37pm_

 

Hey if you’re still at school can you come

to AD, I need a favor

 

Hyunjin’s eyebrows shut up when he read the cryptid text over Minho’s shoulder, but shrugged uselessly when the older asked what it could possibly be about. The pair made their way to the AD class and entered to see Chan with Jisung in a headlock. The older’s hair was tousled and his skin paler than normal, making the bags beneath his eyes even more prominent. The younger’s hair was impossibly messy and his specs were barely balancing on the tip of his nose when he looked over to see who had come in.

His eyes lit up when they settled on the pair, “Hyunjinnie! Tell Chan he’s being irrational!”

Chan groaned in exasperation, clearing having been through this conversation with the blonde several times before. He ignored Jisung all together, who attempted to gain the three’s attention with no results, “Look, I need you to take him home just for an hour or two while I’m gone. Changbin was called home by his dad but should be back around 8 and I promised to help Woojin to study in the library for a few hours. I just need to know that he’s ok and not overworking himself.”

“How dare you make such accusations. I would never pull a ‘Chan’ and overwork myself to the point of fainting. I am nowhere near that idiotic. No sir, in fact I am quite the scholar. Ooh that’s a great word to describe me, _a scholar_.”

Chan looked desperate, “Please take him.”

Minho took pity and held his arms open, ready for the armful of squirrel that was thrust against him. Hyunjin seemed to be enjoying the entire situation much more than warranted.

Once Jisung was safe in Minho’s arms, still muttering to himself, Chan explained a bit further, “He needs just a bit of a break from this room or else he might actually have some sort of mental break. But he’s having another rough patch with his parents so he doesn’t really have a safe place to go. Just feed him, water him, sing him a lullaby, I don’t give a shit, I just will feel a lot better if I know he’s out and with someone I trust.”

“Psh _water me_ like I’m some sort of plant.” Jisung muttered darkly. “Give me a garden hose and you’ll see ju-”

Minho slapped a hand over Jisung’s mouth and nodded resolutely, “Understood hyung, I will take good care of the baby. Take good care of Woojin-hyung for me.”

“Of course Minho. Thanks for taking him for me.” Chan said, features softening when he looked at the pair, Jisung having finally shut his trap about being taken care of and instead leaning into Minho’s touch. “Keep him safe. And preferably out of trouble.”

“If that’s even possible.”

“Yeah, the jury’s still out on that.” Chan bantered, before nodding his goodbye and taking off, Hyunjin trailing behind while asking the older to edit his essay.

  


Minho and Jisung took the bus for the short distance between Minho’s home and the school. Though Jisung wasn’t showing it, Minho could see the lack of sleep catching up to him quite a bit. His head kept falling forward slightly, his movement even less coordinated than usual.

The walk from the bus stop to Minho’s house was quick, but they were unhurried and consequently dragged their feet on the way there.

Minho took advantage of the situation to ask a question that had been sitting in the back of his mind, “Jisung, are there times when you can’t go to Chan-hyung’s house?”

If Jisung was in anyway phased by the question, he certainly didn’t show it, “Oh sure, there’s tons of times when I can’t go there, more so recently though.”

“Why is it that you can’t go.”

Jisung shrugged and kicked at a pebble on the sidewalk, “Various reasons. He and the family are away on a trip, they have relatives over, Chan-hyung has to study or focus on something, stuff like that.”

“Oh,” Minho nodded in understanding, not that Jisung saw it since the younger’s eyes were trained intently on the ground, “Where do you go when that happens? Felix’s?”

“Uh, no not usually, he lives a little ways out of town so getting there is kind of difficult.”

Minho noticed the way that Jisung didn’t respond to the original question and decided to approach it as lightly as he could (which was not very lightly at all due to his habit of being rather blunt), “So where _do_ you go?”

They continued walking for a few steps before Jisung stopped suddenly and turned to fully face Minho, his lips slightly pursed in conflict, “Look, Minho-hyung, if I tell you this you have to _promise me_ you never tell Chan-hyung. I don’t know if he’d ever really forgive me.”

Jisung’s serious tone took Minho by surprise, “I highly doubt it’s as bad as you’re making it out to be.”

“Just promise me.”

A beat. Then another.

“Ok, I promise you Jisung.”

“Alright,” Jisung took a breath, “I usually sleep in the park behind the college.”

Minho was careful to stay expressionless, wanting the younger to continue and not wimp out.

“I just, I feel somewhat of a burden at times, to all of our friends, but especially Chan-hyung. And I know he truly doesn’t mind looking after me, I get the sneaking feeling that he kinda likes it, but that doesn’t erase my feeling of intruding on him and his personal space. So I sometimes just, like, don’t go to him if I was kicked out. If that makes sense.”

Minho nodded his understanding, “I understand that it’s how you feel. But please Sungie, for my own state of mind at least, come to my house from now on if you feel like you can’t go to Chan-hyung’s. Please.”

Jisung stared at Minho with a contemplative look, his hand nervously toying with the end of his sleeve. He didn’t offer Minho with a verbal response, just a slightly sad smile before he turned and resumed walking, Minho following suit.

Minho had to force Jisung to stay at his house for three hours, the other obviously anxious to leave and resume work. Despite his restlessness, they ended up having a good time. They played card games for a decent amount of time which Jisung ended being unfairly good at.

“Jeongin and I once had a bet riding on this game. I forced Felix to practice with me for weeks so that I could beat the little demon.” Was the explanation that Jisung offered with a smirk as he dealt the cards for a second round.

They played Just Dance for a long time. Minho knew the majority of the dances by heart but Jisung fumbled around more often than he actually accomplished the right dance moves. (Minho tried so hard to not be endeared by the way he danced in celebration of finally beating Minho. Minho failed so so badly at not being endeared.)

He made sure to feed Jisung to the best of his abilities as well. They had leftover pizza for dinner and juice boxes to wash it down, not the healthiest of options but it was the best Minho could offer. The dancer also silently slipped a ziploc baggie of Goldfish and another full of spicy rice puffs into the younger’s bag in hopes that he would find them and at least keep his energy up that way.

Chan let him know that he had returned to their work, so Jisung was finally allowed back. Minho was hesitant to let the energetic boy go back to school just to pull another all nighter, but there was little that Minho could actually do about it. He walked Jisung back to the school with purposefully slow steps. If Jisung noticed, he didn’t say anything, happily skipping ahead a few steps before stopping and waiting for a smiling Minho to catch up.

They entered the AD room to find Chan in his usual seat setting up some recording equipment and Woojin sat at the closest table listening to music while working on a literature assignment.

“I have a delivery for you. A rather _troublesome_ delivery.” Minho deadpanned, watching Jisung happily bounce over to Chan and wrap the older in a back hug.

Chan looked towards Minho in distress, “Can I request a return?”

“The amount of utter disrespect I put up with in the household, I swear.” Jisung exclaimed indignantly, pushing Chan away, “And to think I _trusted_ you.”

“Ah, so you’re in a _mood_.” Chan said with a small smile and nod moving to collect the smaller in a proper hug. “Thanks for babysitting I hope he wasn’t too much of a nuisance.”

“Ah! I take offence!” Jisung cried, struggling half heartedly in Chan’s strong hold.

“No you don’t.”

“No I don’t.” Jisung’s shoulders sagged in defeat.

“Eh, he wasn’t horrible. A bit tiresome, he really is a full time commitment. I tried to tire him out for you.” Minho carried on the teasing, passing Chan Jisung’s backpack and turning to the youngest to slip his glasses on to his face (They had fallen off at one point due to Jisung’s excited walking). “Anyways, I’ll be on my way, I don’t want to keep you from your work.”

Woojin stood from where he was seated, his chair scraping on the ground, “If you’re headed out I’ll walk with you, I just was making sure Chan wasn’t on his own.”

Minho nodded towards the older and bid his goodbye to the other two, who were already engrossed in work.

 

During the short period that Minho was within the school building, a light drizzle had begun to dampen the streets.

Woojin and Minho stood shoulder to shoulder beneath a window overhanging just outside of the school, watching the rain in defeat.

“Is it worth it? It’s pretty light, we won’t get too wet if we’re smart about it.” Woojin attempted to lighten the situation. Just as he said it, the drizzle turned heavier until it was obscuring their view of the street altogether.

Minho fixed Woojin with a withering glare, “Can’t say I agree.”

Woojin rolled his eyes and grabbed Minho by the back of his shirt, hauling him back into the school building and into the Art Division classroom. The two producers present looked surprised at their sudden reappearance.

“Hyungs?” Jisung questioned with an expression of confusion.

Woojin ruffled the kid’s hair and sat his stuff down at the table he had been residing in before, gesturing for Minho to join him, “It’s raining pretty hard out there. Too hard for us to make it to the bus stop and definitely too hard to walk home.”

“So it looks like we’re stuck waiting it out here, don’t worry, we’ll stay out of your way.” Minho finished for Woojin as he got settled at the table beside the older, pulling out his laptop and offering an earbud to Woojin.

He missed the mischievous look that Chan and Jisung shared. Missed the hushed conversation they exchanged and discreet phone call they made.

Minho and Woojin contentedly watched some American sitcom for an hour and a half, making scathing comments here and there and pausing the show every once in awhile to have serious discussions about the plot. Minho found himself growing increasingly more comfortable, not only with Woojin, but also with the atmosphere and company that he found himself in. There was something strangely intimate about being there, pressed close to Woojin and sharing earphones while two of their friends worked on a project only a few feet away.

As the intro to the 4th episode was playing, Changbin burst through the door, followed closely by Felix and Jeongin who were both holding a trash bag full of something Minho couldn’t discern.

“Wha-”

“Lixie!” Jisung bound across the room and flung himself into the Australian's arms.

“Sungie!” Felix dropped the bag and opened his arms, catching Jisung and hugging him tightly.

“I swear you two are codependent I mean you saw each other 4 hou-”

“I missed you!” Jisung dramatically cut off Changbin’s complaint, nuzzling his head into the other’s neck.

Minho looked to Woojin for any semblance of an explanation. He wasn’t very helpful.

“You get used to it.” Was the only comment the eldest made.

Seungmin entered the classroom holding two drink carriers, followed by Hyunjin who was (attempting to) carry four bags, most likely filled with take out food.

Changbin scrambled to stand up on one of the stools in the classroom, clapping his hands to get the group’s attention, “Excuse me excuse me! It was brought to my- hey quiet Hyunjin your leader is speaking- it was brought to my attention that two of our fabulous friends were about to be stranded here with the insomniacs because they had no way of getting home. So I took it upon myself to organize an impromptu sleepover with all of you.”

“Or you could’ve just given us a ride home.” Woojin pointed out, ever the voice of reason.

“Nonsense! That’s a preposterous idea. How dare you.” Changbin looked genuinely offended, his joking tone the only hint that he was teasing.

“Yeah plus we have to take Minho-hyung’s sleepover virginity.” Jisung called out from where he was still wrapped in Felix’s arms.

“My _what now_.” Minho sputtered, looking at the younger who disregarded him all together.

“His sleepinity, if you will.”

“I’m gonna choose to just not address that.” Changbin said, not sparing Jisung as second glance as Hyunjin helped him down from the stool.

Seungmin sighed as if he had heard this nonsense too many times before. He probably had. “Can we have a group vote right here and now to sacrifice Jisung to the storm gods if need be.”

Jeongin shrugged as he set down the trash bag that he had been clutching to, “Seems fair to me.”

“Great, I have the baby’s approval. All I ever truly needed in life anyways.” Seungmin set the drinks down on the table Minho was seated at, “We made a coffee run, so everyone help yourselves to your usual order. Minho we panicked and got you a mocha cause it sounds vaguely like loca and I’m sure you can connect the dots from there.” Minho rolled his eyes but grabbed the drink from his bratty dongsaeng nonetheless. “Jisung you’re getting a hot chocolate or else none of us will be able to sleep, deal with it you absolute child.”

Jisung pouted but accepted the cup that was passed to him.

“There are comforters, pillows, and blankets in the trash bags and some pasta and french fries in the food bags, everybody help yourselves.” Changbin smiled warmly at everyone, winking when he made eye contact with Minho.

Woojin stumbled in his excitement to get to the food but stopped and patted Minho’s back lightly, “I’m glad you’re friends with us now.”

He didn’t wait for Minho’s reply, just moved to the bags of food and sorted them out with Hyunjin, setting certain meals aside for certain people.

Minho’s self proclaimed ice cold heart warmed at the comment.

He was happy they were friends too.

  


Minho showed Hyunjin and Felix how to move the tables for dance practice and worked with them for a short time on their routine. The pair were truly amazing, Minho had no doubt they would be let into the class. However, no matter how much he reassured the two of this, they refused to hear it, insisting they still had too much to improve on.

The dance practice area was transformed into their sleeping area in a matter of minutes. Despite there not being too many comforters, not to mention they were in the corner of a school classroom, the little area looked surprisingly comfortable and welcoming.

The 6 non producers made themselves comfortable in the area, snacking on the french fries and watching more of the American sitcom from Minho’s computer in a confusing mess of limbs. When the clock hit 12 am, Woojin insisted that they try to go to bed. He even attempted to coax the two younger members of 3racha to sleep to no avail. Changbin had fixed Woojin with a look that practically screamed _are you serious_ whereas Jisung had stuck his tongue out in a very mature way before putting his earbuds back in to continue his work.

“At least I tried.” Woojin muttered bitterly. It was glaringly obvious, even to Minho who hadn’t been friends with him for long, that the oldest of their small group was protective over all the younger members. Minho could only imagine how it hurt Woojin to watch them overworking themselves insistently.

They turned off half of the lights in the classroom and settled down in the corner to attempt some sleep. Of course it wasn’t as simple as that.

“Ok Hyunjin, would you rather fight a human sized gingerbread man or human sized gummy bear?” Felix started giggling at his own question, trying to desperately stay quiet. Woojin had succeeded in getting Jeongin and Seungmin to bed around an hour ago, but Felix, Minho, and Hyunjin were an entirely different obstacle.

“A gingerbread man, obviously. Cookie will crumble, gummy will just bounce me right back.” Hyunjin explained his answer with a straight face as Felix clutched his arm in a fit of giggles.

“Will you three _please_ try to sleep? It’s almost 2 in the morning and I do not need another three sleep deprived children on top of the three I already have.” Woojin groaned into his pillow. He lifted himself up to glare at the three dancers who all froze in place at the look.

Minho offered a sheepish smile, “We didn’t realize you were still awake.”

Woojin scoffed lightly, “Right, just, please go to bed.”

“We’ll try hyung.” Hyunjin assured him and signaled for the other two dancers to lie down finally. Felix turned to face Minho with a wide smile.

Minho felt his heart stop for half a beat.

“So hyung,” The freckled boy whispered just as Hyunjin’s head appeared over his shoulder, “You and Jiusng huh?”

“What?” Genuine confusion filled Minho at the implication.

“Well it seems like you guys are pretty close even though you haven’t known him long.” Felix explained with a small wave of his hand. Hyunjin nodded along, still staring at Minho.

“Though, to be fair, Jisung is pretty easy to become friends with. He wears his emotions on his sleeve.” Hyunjin added as an afterthought.

“Yeah I mean, I just met him 3 days ago in a very weird way. We’re really just friends.”

The other two were quiet for a long while, and Minho was figuring they had fallen asleep until Felix’s quiet voice cut through their silence.

“You wouldn’t mind something more with him though, right?”

Minho didn’t reply, thinking the question over. He turned his head to look at the three producers working diligently. Chan was using the sound board to record something that Minho couldn’t hear. Changbin was reviewing the footage of the dance again. Jisung was staring intently at his laptop screen, earbuds in their permanent residence of his ears, his thumb running along his bottom lip in what Minho assumed was a nervous habit. They occasionally would turn and consult with one another or hum out some random tune before scribbling it on to any piece of paper they could reach.

“No, I don’t think I would mind something more at all.”

  


Minho woke around at around 6, disoriented for a few seconds before coming to his senses. He sat up to check who was awake, finding Hyunjin on his phone on the other side of Felix. Changin had fallen asleep on the tabletop once again, baseball cap balanced precariously on his head. Chan’s head was lolled back, sleeping soundly in a rather uncomfortable position. Jisung’s head rested on Chan’s shoulder breathing evenly as he slept.

“Isn’t it precious?” Hyunjin’s soft voice, slightly low due to sleep, startled Minho. “Those three are seriously like their own family it’s adorable.”

“Have they always been this close?”

Hyunjin bit his lip, “They grew up together after Chan moved here from Australia. They went through some hard times together and their protectiveness of each other kind of amplified after Jisung came back from Malaysia. Seungmin and I only became friends with them when we were in Grade 7, ages after they had met and become friends.”

“Hyunjin,” Minho began carefully, “Why did Jisung go to Malaysia.”

Hyunjin watched Minho intently for a few moments, maintaining a steady gaze with the elder before answering the question, obviously being cautious about his answer. “His parents sent him to live there for 2 years with an uncle that worked there.”

Minho sensed the hesitancy around the topic, so he dropped it graciously, instead enlisting Hyunjin to help him go to the nearby cafe to get some pastries and drinks for the group.

“At this rate we’re all gonna be coffee addicts.” Hyunjin grumbled, mostly in retaliation to Minho forcing him to carry both drink carriers.

“Haven’t you heard Hyunjin, we already are.”

Hyunjin only rolled his eyes in response.

  


So the thing was, unfortunately enough for Minho, that Han Jisung was unfairly adorable in the morning.

The last time Minho had seen Jisung half awake was the night that he met him and the kid had threatened the chairs and table. The dancer had naturally come to the conclusion that Jisung was as much of a menace half asleep as he was when he was fully awake.

He had been laughably wrong.

When Hyunjin and Minho had returned a little after half past six, everyone except Seungmin were up and talking quietly. Felix was hanging off of Woojin’s arm as he and Jeongin spoke quietly with Changbin, the rapper’s eyes half open and speech still slightly slurred. Chan was back on his laptop and working yet again with Jisung’s head still nestled beneath his chin, the younger mumbling tiredly about his dream and Chan responding indulgently.

Minho and Hyunjin joined them and passed out the drinks and pastries, Hyunjin having known all their orders by heart.

And that was how he found himself with an armful of squirrel. Minho had only been sitting in the absent seat beside Jisung for a split second before he felt the younger burrowing into his side with a content sigh.

“You’re warm hyung. And smell like coffee.”

“Probably because I’m holding your latte.”

“And you’re also an angel.” Jisung proclaimed, but his usual energy didn’t back up his words. He sluggishly reached for the latte that Minho was holding and sipped it idly as Minho filled the silence with a quiet story from his childhood. Minho caught the grateful smile that Chan sent him and nodded in response, his hand unconsciously snaking into Jisung’s hair.

“How long did you sleep last night, Sung?” Minho murmured to the younger after his story had finished.

Jisung sighed and nuzzled his face against Minho’s shoulder, “I think Chan-hyung and I fell asleep around 4:30ish. But I can’t be sure.”

Minho hummed in acknowledgement though it physically pained him to think of how little the producing trio had slept.

“I think I need to go home today.” Jisung whispered, his voice laced with dread, “I haven’t showered or changed in 2 days.”

“Your parents?” Minho questioned hesitantly.

“Should both be at work. I left my window unlocked last time I left, hopefully they didn’t lock it, they’ve done that to me before.”

Minho’s heart ached at the confession, but he didn’t say anything in order to not overstep his boundaries. Instead he replied, “Would you like me to come? We can skip classes until lunch and then sneak in while kids are leaving for off campus?”

“Ah hyung, I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble.” Jisung insisted, his voice still uncharacteristically quiet as he munched on his muffin.

“And I don’t want _you_ getting in trouble, Jisungie, let me come with you. Please.”

Minho’s voice must’ve sounded pretty desperate, or maybe Jisung had been just as desperate for the company as Minho was to provide it. Either way, the younger ended up relenting and agreeing to let the dancer accompany him as soon as they finished their meager breakfast.

As Jisung packed up his stuff, Chan approached him with a gentle smile and knowing eyes.

“You’re taking half of our sunshine away?” His voice was soothing in the morning, lilting with his accent that he was usually able to effortlessly disguise.

Minho nodded once in affirmative, “He needs a shower and a change of clothes. But I don’t want him going alone while he’s still in a fight with his parents.”

“Thank you, usually I would offer but I’m meeting with a college counselor today so I can’t miss. Otherwise-”

“I know I know, he’s practically your little brother. I think it surprises exactly no one that you would be willing to drop everything to walk him home.”

Chan quirked his eyebrow smuggly, “Oh yeah? And what excuse do you have exactly Minho-ah.”

Minho realized the trap that Chan had set him in and glared at the green-haired boy, “You’re lucky you’re my hyung you kangaroo.”

  


Jisung and Minho split off from the other 7 a few minutes before class was supposed to start with promises of bringing junk food for lunch (and Changbin insisting on Minho making sure that Jisung had some sort of fruit when they got home).

Jisung lead the way to his house happily, telling Minho about embarrassing Chan stories and old 3racha projects that he was proud of. The crisp wind was refreshing after having been cooped up in the school for so long and Minho found himself savoring the chill that it brought to him as it rustled the leaves above them. Though the sky was momentarily blue and clear, Jisung insisted that another storm would be arriving soon, urging them to his house at the idea of getting stuck in the rain.

Just as Jisung had said, his window had been left unlocked. He shimmied it open and hoisted himself inside easily, Minho following closely behind.

Jisung’s room was cleaner than Minho expected, nearly unnaturally clean considering it was a teenage boy’s room. His bed was made and tucked tightly, looking as though it hadn’t been touched in awhile and his desk was devoid of any personal items besides a single wooden framed picture of- who Minho assumed was- Jisung’s family. There were no posters or pictures on the light grey walls and no kind of memorabilia was anywhere throughout the room. The only object that Minho could tell was a product of Jisung’s doing was an acoustic guitar leaning on a stand in the far corner.

While Minho observed the small room, Jisung grabbed a new set of clothes from his closet and an old backpack which he stuffed with a few more outfits. He was obviously not planning on coming back anytime soon.

When the younger seemed satisfied with the contents of his bag he dejectedly flopped into the rolling chair by his desk, spinning to face Minho with a tight-lipped smile.

“My parents don’t think I really deserve to decorate or personalize my room since I’m barely in it anyways.” He turned to his desk and opened up the bottom drawer, ruffling around it for a few seconds before pulling something out and closing it once again. It was another framed picture, this one slightly larger and was framed in an obnoxiously bedazzled frame. “Seungminnie got it for me the day we found out that I had gotten into Art Division. It was taken the first day of my auditions for the class. Cute isn’t it?”

Inside the frame was a picture taken of their friend group, minus Minho since he had yet to even move to the town. It looked as if it had been a timed picture as Woojin’s back was turned and obscuring half of Seungmin’s body, who looked as though he was yelling at the older. Beside Seungmin was Hyunjin, smiling brightly at the camera while his eyes crinkled happily. Changbin was on the otherside of Hyunjin, caught in the middle of an eye roll though his signature smile was still firmly in place. Jisung was in the middle, slightly doubled over in laughter as he watched Woojin run and Chan was beside him looking over at the oldest in confusion. Felix and Jeongin were in their old world, Felix leaning in to give Jeongin a kiss on the cheek while Jeongin leaned away in disgust, his signature fox eyes wide in panic.

Minho’s heart swelled at the picture, at the pure joy and chaos that it had perfectly captured. His heart shrunk again when he realized Jisung wasn’t even allowed to leave it on his desk.

“When I move out, this picture is gonna be the only thing I bring. I’ll sell the guitar and my clothes and burn all those stupid fucking papers they stuff in my drawers, but that picture… I can’t leave that behind.”

“No... That picture is too precious to leave behind. I love it Jisung.” Minho replied earnestly, holding the picture as delicately as he could when Jisung handed it to him to inspect closer. Minho handed it back to him and he placed it on his desk with a small yet prideful smile.

“Alright, I’m gonna quickly take a shower and change before this stupid house sucks the life out of both of us. If you hear anyone come inside just go out my window again and leave, ok?”

“Sungie…”

“Minho-hyung.”

Minho couldn’t fight the younger when he looked as desperate as he did now, “Ok, I’ll go out the window but I’m _not leaving you._ ”

Jisung’s laugh was tired and half hearted, “I didn’t think you would.” He seemed to brace himself before standing from the chair and moving to the door, “I’ll be quick, I promise.”

“Just go, you smell like an animal carcass.”

“Ah hyung,” Jisung swooned teasingly, “You sure know the way to a man’s heart.”

“Go!” Minho threw his shoe at Jisung’s retreating back, hearing the younger’s loud clear laugh bounce around the hall.

Minho sunk onto Jisung’s bed and wouldn’t let himself think about how long ago the last time Jisung had laughed in the house was.

  


True to his word, Jisung returned only 7 minutes later, hair still damp as he toweled it dry. He was in black joggers and a yellow hoodie, his specs held loosely in his free hand. Minho smiled in greeting and moved over so the other could sit beside him on the bed.

Jisung’ lips twitched minimally but he looked younger for some reason, more vulnerable than usual. Something must’ve happened. Minho gently pried the towel from Jisung’s hand and took over drying his hair.

Jisung let out a tired sigh but leaned down to allow Minho to do as he pleased. It only took a few moments of Minho’s gentle touch for Jisung to begin talking, “They threw away my contact lenses hyung. I buy those myself, always have, but forgot them here the last time we… the last time I left. There should’ve been at least 4 more days worth, but they’re all gone. Why would they do that.”

“Some people strive off cruelty, Jisungie. That does not mean that you deserve it.” Minho stated quietly yet firmly. Jisung’s tense shoulders relaxed and Minho decided to count that as a win, “They do not deserve such an amazing, beautiful, talented son. And you, Sungie, you do not deserve to be treated this way.”

“Hyungie…” Jisung’s voice cracked during the desperate whimper and he all but threw himself into Minho’s chest. He wasn’t quite crying, but his body was shaking from the energy it was taking for him to not break down. Minho tightened his grip around the younger and rocked him gently.

“Sungie, my bright Sungie. You’ll be ok, we’re gonna watch out for you ok. Hyung is gonna take care of you.” Minho shushed him quietly as Jisung continued to tremble. “C’mon Ji, let’s get some food and leave, you’ve been in here for too long.”

Jisung nodded mutely and got up, refusing to let go of Minho’s arm the entirety of the time it took them to find some acceptable lunch items for their small group (including a small carton of blueberries for Jisung).

They exited the way they came, Jisung grabbing his backpack of clothes on his way.

They pulled the window closed and started the walk back to school, taking their sweet time on the way. It was a half day at their school, meaning all classes were only half as long as they usually were. Every other Friday was a half day at their school as a way to allow the students to meet with teachers or make up and tests and quizzes that they may have missed. So, though they spent less than an hour at Jisung’s house, it was nearly time for lunch.

  


As Minho had predicted, sneaking back into the campus was easy. The mass exodus caused by seniors who left for off campus lunch made a small window of time where the front gates were far too crowded for any administrator to actually account for the students entering or leaving. (Hoshi had been the first one to show Minho the small trick when he took the younger and two of his other friends, DK and Seungkwan, on a hunt to find a whoopie cushion.)

Lunch was uneventful but peaceful, most certainly due to the lack of energy on Felix and Jisung’s parts. Minho caught Chan sending Jisung concerned glances every few minutes, and occasionally sending Minho questioning glances that Minho always pretended not to see. He would explain in full what happened at Jisung’s house later. Chan would know better of what to do.

During the last 5 minutes of break the sky clouded over once again, and right as the warning bell rang it began to rain heavy drops. They rushed for the door off of the roof in a hurry, their shouts echoing around them in a symphony.

Chan ended up right beside Minho on the stairs to the main floors, behind the rest of the group.

“What happened.”

Of course Chan wasn’t going to beat around the bush, not when it came to Jisung. Never when it came to Jisung.

Minho stayed quiet a moment as he watched Jisung and Hyunjin at the front of their group hanging off of each other so much they almost tripped. It was stupidly adorable. Minho couldn’t stand it.

“His parents threw out his contact lenses.” Minho answered simply and Chan seemed to understand. When said aloud, it seemed like such a trivial thing to get upset about. Jisung, from what Minho had observed, didn’t like his contacts all that much anyways. But he bought them for when he wanted them, he kept them safe for when he decided to use them. It was nobody else’s choice to throw those away. That combined with the undeniably suffocating atmosphere of the house and his lack of sleep, it was no wonder he had the small break down he had. Minho would’ve as well if he had been in the situation.

Beside him, Chan looked much older than he was, “God, I wish I could just get him out of that house. I don’t want him in there anymore than he needs to be, but he refuses to move out, says he wants to be there for his siblings.”

Minho didn’t know what to say to that. His stupid, protective urge was screaming at him to confess to Chan about Jisung’s alternative to sleeping at Chan’s house, but his stupid, loyal side was making him stay silent.

It wasn’t his secret to tell anyways.

  


Seungmin ambushed Minho at his locker after school to remind him of the sleepover at his house.

“We were all planning on walking straight there from school, if you want to join us. Oh and if you need clothes or anything I can lend you some.” His voice was bright with excitement and he gestured wildly as he spoke, something Minho hadn’t seen him do in a long time.

“Yeah I’ll come with you guys, your house is on the other side of town from mine, too much of a walk. Too lazy.” Minho closed his locker and turned to nod at Seungmin, spotting Hyunjin and Jeongin coming down the hallway over the younger’s shoulder.

“Kinda what I expected you to say, hyung. It’s been awhile since you were at my house.”

Minho lifted an eyebrow but didn’t respond, opting instead to lean against his locker and watch what he knew what about to unfold peacefully.

Just as Minho expected, Jeongin sprang onto Seungmin’s back at the same time that Hyunjin poked the younger’s sides. Seungmin let out a surprised shriek, followed by a shout of annoyance that echoed in the hallway, drawing a few looks from students left in the school.

“I despise all of you. Every single one of you. I’m disowning.” Seungmin grumbled as Jeongin laughed and slid off of his back.

“You can’t disown us, only Woojin-hyung and Chan-hyung can.” Jeongin looked weirdly smug as he said this, as if he had expected it from his youngest hyung, “And they’ve threatened to multiple times.” Jeongin directed towards Minho.

“Can’t imagine why.”

It took only a couple more minutes of playful teasing for the other 5 to come hurrying down the hallway in a small pack. The group left the school together, opening up the 4 umbrellas that Jeongin had stuffed into the Art Division closet the night before. Jeongin got his own, walking besides Hyunjin and Felix who were sharing one. Behind them was Changbin and Seungmin who were walking in peaceful silence, surprising for the two that were notorious for getting in petty arguments. Woojin and Chan were a few steps behind them, talking mildly about university applications.

Lastly but predictably were Minho and Jisung, trailing several feet behind the others. Jisung insisted on jumping in every puddle they encountered and Minho indulging the younger, only pulling him back by the hood on his sweater when he thought the puddle was too big.

He settled down and seemed content in walking shoulder to shoulder with Minho after a little while. This happy go lucky Jisung was a far call from the one who had huddled in Minho’s arms not even a couple of hours ago. Jisung offered Minho one of his earbuds, playing calm acoustic music that fit the pattering of the raindrops well. Minho didn’t notice that he had begun singing quietly along until Jisung spoke up.

“You have a nice voice hyung.” Jisung whispered, keeping his gaze on their group in front of them.

Minho was surprised from the compliment, no one had ever told him that his voice was nice. “Thank you Sungie.”

Jisung shot Minho a wide smile that made Minho’s heart speed up and opened his mouth to say something-

Which was interrupted by his loud squeak when Felix suddenly tugged him out from beneath the shelter of the umbrella and into the light rain, insisting on them attempting to play some version of hopscotch on the sidewalk.

“Not in the street!” Chan yelled at the same time Woojin said, “Be careful you guys!”

Suddenly Hyunjin was beside Minho, knocking their umbrellas together teasingly. “You _like_ him.” he sang, mirth in his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Minho replied primly, straightening slightly at the unexpected confrontation.

Hyunjin laughed at his attempt to refute the accusation, “Oh hyung, you are so transparent. He’s literally the only that can’t see how whipped you are for him.”

“If you plan on sleeping peacefully tonight I highly suggest you shut your trap.” Minho growled, hoping that Hyunjin would fall for his tough guy act as he didn’t know the older well.

Hyunjin stared at him with narrowed, calculating eyes, “I’m only gonna back off because I can’t tell if you’re bluffing right now or not. But, just a word of advice, talk to him about it.”

Before Minho could think of a proper reply, Hyunjin was bouncing away to no doubt begin teasing Jeongin.

But leaving plenty for Minho to ponder over.

  


Seungmin’s house hadn’t changed since the last time Minho had been there, still as stately and imposing as ever. It was a large, two story house with a wrap around porch and tall white pillars. A simple brick path lead to the large front door, cutting through the large green lawn. Seungmin unlocked the door and let them in, explaining that his parents were at a conference in Japan until Tuesday as he did.

They slipped off their shoes and followed him to the conjoined dining and kitchen area, settling into the familiar setting easily. Seungmin enlisted Woojin and Changbin to help him get some snacks ready while Jisung and Felix sat cross legged on the marble counters, having a competition to see who could get more blueberries into Chan’s glass of water. Chan himself was playing dumb for the sake of the two younger’s entertainment, every once in awhile taking idle sips of his water to elicit giggles from the sunshine twins. Minho, Hyunjin and Jeongin took seats at the large dining room table playing a round of battleship on their phones.

The night progressed with them splitting off into odd groups and entertaining each other. There was no system or plan to their night together, just savoring their time as it was.

At one point, Minho had gone to the kitchen for a refill of water and had happened upon an intense game of kitchen roulette between Jisung, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Felix. (It was absolutely no surprise to Minho that the 00 line had come up with the hellish game). They all but abducted Minho and forced him to take a turn. Even if Minho had tried, there was no way he was escaping the combined wrath of the 00 line.

“So basically you spin the wheel and depending on the ingredient you get, all of them are like, super horrible by the way, we showed no mercy, anyway we get to make something for you to eat that includes that certain ingredient. Understood? Good.” Jisung explained in one breath, grinning at Minho as he settled down on the cold tile floor. They had taped pieces of paper to a lazy suzanne and decorated the different colors with various foods.

“Is that it? No guessing involved, no points for who can make it the most disgusting?” Minho asked, surprised at the mildness of the game.

“Nah,” Felix waved him off, “We may be weird, but adding points would just take away the fun of making one of our friends miserable.”

Seungmin fixed Minho with a deadpan glare, “Duh.”

“Okay okay, I understand no need to get all uppity, god.” With that, Minho leaned forward and spun the lazy suzanne, watching it spin for a couple of turns before settling. Minho cocked his head, attempting to discern the doodle on the piece of paper directly in front of him. “Oh my god, which one of you _idiots_ thought it was a good idea to include tumeric? What would you even mix with tumeric!”

Jisung and Seungmin were clutching each other as they laughed at Minho’s pain while Hyunjin pouted, “It was my idea hyung!”

“Well you’re no longer allowed to contribute your ideas to the group Hyunjinnue, consider your creativity banned.”

“That’s not fair! You can’t creative cockblock me! Let this creative cock be unblocked.”

Felix fell backwards as he laughed at the exchange, Seungmin and Jisung not much better.

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

Hyunjin produced a sleeping mask from beside him and slipped it over Minho’s eyes with a smug smile, “I have a feeling we’re not going easy on you.”

“Kinky, Hyunjin. And to think I had my death all planned out and nice. I was going to die by freak bowling accident peacefully amongst my peers of old folk and cats. You’ve ruined months of meticulous planning and developing.” Minho ranted, enjoying the responding laughs he got as his dongsaengs moved around him, creating a no doubt disgusting concoction for Minho to force down.

After a few more seconds of Minho lamenting about his new, unsatisfactory way of death, someone prodded his shoulder harshly while someone else guided a suspiciously warm cup into his hand.

Minho lifted it to his lips, just starting to prepare himself for a sip when-

“Minho we were- oh my god, what are you guys doing to him.” Chan’s voice sounded regretful as he stopped short in the doorframe.

“Kitchen roulette!” Felix responded happily.

“Run Chan. Run before the children get you!” Minho cried dramatically, swinging his head to where he hoped Chan was standing (He was off by a couple of feet and ended up looking ridiculous but nobody called him on it.)

He heard rather than saw the shuffling of footsteps as Chan backed away from the kitchen in fear.

“Nope! Too late, sorry hyung. Once you step foot in the kitchen there is no turning back.” Seungmin quipped unapologetically. Then there was a sudden burst of action around Minho, someone’s knee knocked him from behind, and another body settled beside him with a resigned sigh. _Chan_.

“I’m so sorry.They’re complete menaces when they’re all together and unsupervised. It’s why we try to keep one of the hyungs, or even Jeongin, with them at all time. Sometimes we just split them up if we need to.”

“Don’t worry,” Minho replied, having already accepted his fate, “I think I’m tough enough to handle some puny sophomores and Hyunjin.”

“Hey!”

“Offence taken hyung, serious offence taken.”

Felix and Jisung both shouted, which Minho chose to ignore in favor of taking a deep breath and sipping the liquid still in his hand.

“Oh holy shit! What did you put in this!”

Their resounding laughter was the gates of hell opening.

  


Dinner was made and served by Chan and Minho after they cleaned up the kitchen roulette mess. The pair were able to work diligently together and finished a meal big enough for the nine of them rather quickly. They had to force Jisung and Jeongin out of the kitchen at one point because they claimed they were “testing to make sure it’s not poisonous” when in actuality they were eating all the ingredients they could.

It was simple popcorn chicken and spicy rice cake skewers, but it more than satisfied the group’s hunger, who were able to finish all of it quickly.

“Ok but real question, why is it called popcorn chicken? Does it like, explode like corn does or is it made of corn or-”

“Oh my god Jisung, it’s popcorn because it’s bite sized.”

“Woah, forgive a man for asking, jeez.”

Hyunjin and Jeongin were put on dish duty as they were the only ones who had yet to help and were the only ones trusted with handling the dished. (Felix and Jisung were firmly told that they, under no circumstances, should ever feel the need to help cleaning the dishes).

While they were busy in the kitchen, the other seven settled in the living room to watch a movie, all piling together on the large couch at Seungmin scrolled through their numerous options.

Horror movies were quickly ruled out by Woojin because, “It’s me who will have to deal with the sunshine twins having nightmares for the next two weeks.”

Action was also quickly disputed because Jeongin didn’t like fight scenes, much to the dismay of Seungmin. Eventually they settled on a simple cartoon from France that happened to have Korean subtitles. Hyunjin and Jeongin joined them, carrying bags of sweets were passed around as everybody settled in. Jisung glued himself to Minho’s side with a small, content sigh, tucking his feet up beneath himself and holding lightly onto Minho’s arm. Minho glanced at the younger with an imploring look, but he was focused on the screen, his face squished against Minho’s side making his cheeks puff up slightly.

Minho looked away quickly as his cheeks began to heat up and caught the gaze of Woojin, who was watching him with knowing eyes. Minho bit his slip and looked away for a moment to steel himself before looking back at the older with a hardened look. Woojin seemed to catch on to the fact that Minho had sprung into defense mode and quickly put his hands up in a surrender motion.

It was enough to settle Minho down again.

The movie finished early in the morning, with Changbin and Jeongin already passed out while leaning on each other.

“I’ll bring the sleeping mats out, Hyunjinnie can you help me? Chan-hyung will you get the blankets and pillows from the hallway closet?” Seungmin asked, stretching as he stood up, his shirt riding high.

The three left with no fuss, moving quietly through the house. Woojin was keeping Felix entertained with his phone, allowing the younger to play a game on it as he watched. Against Minho, Jisung was spaced out, obviously fighting sleep as his eyes continued to slip closed before he snapped them open again. Minho moved his hand to the blonde’s hair and began running his fingers through the soft locks.

“You can go to sleep, Sungie, we’ll watch out for you.” Minho’s voice was barely a breath, but Jisung seemed to hear it. The younger hummed slightly and snuggled himself closer, relaxing his head against Minho’s chest and allowing his eyes to remain closed. The dancer gently pulled his specs off his nose, closing and setting them on the arm of the couch where Minho hoped they would be safe. The older leaned back against the couch, satisfied at _finally_ convincing the stubborn producer to get some needed sleep after days.

The beds were set up quickly, the three working in perfect harmony, obviously used to the routine. Woojin pulled Felix down first, cuddling the smaller into compliance. Seungmin settled down beside them, and Hyunjin beside him. Chan got Changbin and Jeongin stretched out on the couch, tucking a blanket over the pair before turning towards Minho and Jisung.

“Need some help with that one?” He asked, already moving closer to help Minho move him.

“Yeah, be careful.” Minho replied as he watched Chan attempt to scoop Jisung up. Jisung whined lightly and clung to Minho’s arm causing Chan to step away with a small smile.

“Sorry buddy, you gotta figure this one out on your own.” With that, Chan laid down on the other side of Woojin, propping himself up on his elbows to watch Minho’s struggle.

Minho took a deep breath before sitting up slightly, watching Jisung as he contemplated 1) his options on how to get the boy on to the sleeping mat and 2) all of his life choices that led him to being stuck with this task.

He settled for gently rearranging Jisung so the younger was sitting mostly on his lap. Minho hooked his arms beneath Jisung’s legs and began to stand slowly, getting used to his weight. It wasn’t the safest or sturdiest way to go about moving him, but if Minho tried to detach his arm from the producer’s grip, he would grumble and only cling tighter, so it was the only way Minho could think to do it. He set the blonde down next to Hyunjin, who had already fallen asleep, and settled in next to him, pulling to last blanket over both of them and watching as Jisung let out a content hum.

Minho grinned at that and moved his free hand back to the younger’s head to play with his hair once again. The repetitive motion and the warmth of Jisung beside him quickly lulled him to sleep.

  


Minho woke to soft light filtering between the curtains, illuminating the small dust particles in the air in a ethereal way. Jisung was still glued to one side of him, but to his surprise Jeongin was now on the other, sleeping lightly with his bangs covering his eyes. At the otherside of the mat, Chan was still asleep with Changbin comfortably in his arms. The area was vacant besides that.

The sound of quiet voices was somewhere near, most likely the kitchen, but Minho was more than happy to stay in the comfortable warmth he found himself in.

He ended up falling into a light slumber. The sounds present in the house still reached his ears, but he was unbothered by it.

Some minutes later, Hyunjin came in and gently shook him, “Hyung, breakfast is ready.”

Minho groaned, “What time is it?”

“Around 10:30. C’mon, before Felix eats it all.”

Minho groaned a bit louder but complied with the younger, prying his eyes open and attempting to sit up, only to elicit two matching grumbles and whines from the boys on either side of him. Hyunjin, still crouched by his head, rolled his eyes at their antics, “I’ll wake up Jeongin, you take Jisung. He won’t listen to me anyways.”

Minho rolled over to face Jisung and shook him gently, then slightly harder when he got no response. When even that didn’t get a reaction Minho reached beneath his head and pulled out the pillow he had been sleeping on and shoved it into the younger’s face.

“Hyung!” Jisung yelled, muffled by the pillow pushing against his face.

“Wake up you treacherous squirrel!” Minho shouted, moving so he was sitting on his knees.

“I’m up!” Jisung wailed, flapping his arms wildly, “I’m up, I promise!”

Minho pulled the pillow away just enough to peek at Jisung’s flushed face and puffy eyes with a cocked head and narrowed eyes. The younger offered a tentative smile, which Minho was quick to _completely diminish_ by shoving the pillow back in his face. Beneath him, Jisung shrieked loudly and flailed about some more.

Minho pushed the pillow down a bit harder before pulling it away with a smug smile. Jisung glared up at him with a firm pout, “I hate you.”

“No you don’t.” Minho replied happily, helping the younger sit up. His hair was sticking up at odd angles and there were creases on his cheek from where his head had been resting on Minho’s arm.

“My glasses…”

“Oh!” Minho shuffled awkwardly on his knees the where he had placed them the night before and retrieved them for the younger, placing them gently on Jisung’s nose. “Didn’t want them to get destroyed last night.”

Jisung smiled sleepily at Minho, “Thanks Minho-hyung. Now I demand you give me a piggyback ride as repentance for trying to suffocate me earlier.”  

Minho huffed but agreed easily, letting Jisung get onto his back before walking into the living room where everybody else was in the middle of eating already. There really was no mercy when it came to food in this group.

Minho set Jisung down into his seat beside Chan and sat on the other side of him, helping himself to orange juice and french toast. Soft music was playing from an overhead speaker and the mid morning sunlight lit the room in a familiar way. Minho talked with Changbin about the showcase, the storm, their school. Before he knew it, everybody was getting ready to leave, having separate engagements for the weekend. Hyunjin and Felix left together for dance team, then Woojin for a study group. 3racha left together to go back to the school and continue working, promising Minho and Seungmin that they would leave the studio before 10pm that night. Minho walked Jeongin home, the youngest ranting to Minho about honors choir auditions that were rapidly approaching.

When Minho got home, he was quickly engulfed in the school work he needed to catch up on, the sleepover leaving his mind altogether.

  


Minho had just finished the last of his science homework late Sunday night when his phone rang, screen lighting up with Jisung’s contact name (which had lovingly been changed to “Do Not Answer” out of pure spite towards the younger).

Minho was quick to answer, “Jisung? What’s up?”

There was no reply, only the rustling of clothes and the distant sound of someone yelling. Minho sat up in his chair, suddenly much more alert.

“Jisung, answer me, what’s going on?”

There was still no reply, just more rustling and then a loud bang, the sound of a door or window slamming. Minho waited with bated breath, resisting every impulse to jump from his seat and run to the younger’s home.

More rustling, louder this time.

Then,

“Minho-hyung? Are you there?”

“Yes!” Minho nearly fell from his seat, “Yes I’m here Sungie, are you alright? What’s wrong?”

“I’m ok hyung,” Jisung’s voice sounded strained and out of breath, “I’m ok I swear, I can practically hear you worrying _god_ , can I spend the night?”

“Of course you can, Sungie, any time.” Minho replied, relief making his hands tingle at the reassurance that the younger was ok and on his way.

“Ok...ok thanks hyung, I’ll be there in 10.”

“Be safe Jisung.”

The line cut.

  
  


Rapid knocking on his window shocked Minho out of the daze he was in. He rushed to open the window, finding a sobbing Jisung on the other side. He helped the younger inside and into his arms, pulling them so that they were sitting together on Minho’s bed. Jisung clung to Minho, his head buried in the older’s chest as his body trembled with his sobs. Minho held on to Jisung tightly, rubbing his thumbs on Jisung’s sides in what he hoped was a soothing manner. It took a long time for Jisung’s sobs to turn into quiet cries, then silent tears. Neither of them spoke besides Minho’s occasional reassurances and shushes.

After at least an hour, Jisung shifted his head out of Minho’s chest, instead resting his cheek on Minho’s shoulder as he sniffled. Minho waited patiently, knowing an explanation was coming.

“She broke my picture, hyung,” Jisung’s voice wobbled unsteadily, “I left it on my desk on Friday and when I got home earlier tonight she had smashed it.”

The gift from Seungmin. Arguably Jisung’s most prized possession.

“Sungie…”

“They yelled at me for hours about not being loyal to our family, how I didn’t love any of them. How my siblings…” He broke off as another sob ripped through his body, “How my siblings deserve a better older brother who actually cares about them. How they should’ve left me in Malaysia like they wanted to.”

By the end of his explanation he was crying again, his body trembling harshly against Minho’s.

“Oh Sungie… None of that’s true, I’m so sorry sweetheart. I’m so sorry baby.” Minho cooed softly, his hand holding the back of Jisung’s neck firmly, “You’re ok, hyung’s got you. I’m not gonna let anything happen, you’re ok baby, you’re ok.”

Jisung quieted down quicker this time, his body too exhausted to keep up with his emotional state. Eventually, he was blankly leaning against Minho, shivering occasionally as tears rolled steadily down his face. Minho held him all the while, whispering encouragement to him.

“Don’t listen to anything they say, Sung, it’s all just noise. Just noise that does not deserve any type of validation. You are so amazing, sweetheart, so strong.”

It seemed to soothe him somewhat, or maybe his body just gave up, as he finally stopped crying after what felt like an eternity. When Minho attempted to leave to get the younger some water, he had instantly clung to him even tighter with a small whimper. Minho grabbed his hand in a firm grip and walked him to the kitchen where they got some water, a couple of juice boxes, and a box of Pocky that Minho had hidden behind the cereal boxes. Once they were back in the safety of Minho’s room they climbed beneath the covers - neither bothering to change as they were already in sweatpants - and put on some cheap superhero movie.

Jisung seemed completely entranced by the film within the first 10 minutes, sucking his juice box with wide eyes that were only magnified by his glasses. But Minho could not find it in him to concentrate. His mind kept wandering, thoughts flying through his head faster than he could comprehend them. He would have to text Chan once Jisung was asleep. Which lead Minho to wonder why Jisung hadn’t fled to Chan’s house instead of his. He would also have to start the long process of convincing the younger to move out. Which just lead Minho to thinking about what Jisung had meant by his parents wanting to leave him in Malaysia.

He hadn’t noticed he was biting his nails to stubs until Jisung tugged his hand away from his mouth and held it in a warm grip, “You’re stressing hyung.”

“Just thinking about how I can keep you safe.” Minho replied honestly, staring intently at the younger. Jisung smiled up at him with an appreciative look.

“I _am_ safe, hyung, it was just a picture. It’ll blow over in a few days and I’ll be able to go home again.” Jisung insisted, his grip tightening to amplify his point.”You’ll see.”

“Sungie, that’s not safe, that’s just avoidance.”

Jisung’s smile fell and he chewed uncertainly at his bottom lip, his eyes flickering away from Minho’s, “I’m safe because I have you. And Chan-hyung.”

Minho all but jumped at the perfect opening, “And both of us are more than willing to let you move in with us. _Please_ Jisung-ah. Please.”

Jisung searched Minho’s eyes, for what Minho didn’t know, but Minho held the intense gaze unflinchingly nonetheless. Jisung let out a small, desperate whine and screwed his eyes shut, “I...I _can’t_ hyung. I just… I can’t leave them.”

“Jisung,” Minho gently pried his hand from Jisung’s and moved it to cup the younger’s still damp cheek, “Jisung look at me.” Jisung hesitantly complied, allowing his eyes to flutter open and stare up at Minho. “Sungie, I know you want to protect them, I know you want to support and be there for them, but you can’t torture yourself like this. It’s tearing you apart. We can’t let you be hurt like this. Hyung can’t watch you struggle without helping.”

Jisung moved his hand to rest on top of the one cradling his cheek, leaning unabashedly into the touch. Fresh tears began spilling from his eyes, “I’m sorry hyung, I’m so so sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anyone in this. I’m sorry.” His voice shook but he held Minho’s gaze.

“You’re hurting yourself more than any of us.”

“And you have to trust me, please Minho-hyung, I can handle this. I’ve handled it for so long now, a few more years won’t make a difference.” Jisung insisted miserably.

“But it’s not about ‘handling’ anymore, Jisung. This isn’t safe for you anymore. Just,” Minho took a breath as his own eyes began to well with tears, willing them away in order to be strong for the younger, “just think about it, ok? Please just consider it, for your hyung’s sake.”

Jisung’s head fell in defeat and he nodded, “For you hyung, I’d do anything.”

“I am so sorry, Sungie, baby, hyung is sorry.” Minho held onto the younger tightly, resting his chin attop the soft locks.

“I’m sorry too. I wish it wasn’t like this.” Jisung’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet and vulnerable.

“Me too, baby, me too.” With that, Minho kissed the top of his head and eased them to lay down fully on the bed, “Let’s go to bed for now.”

Jisung didn’t answer, just allowed Minho to pull his glasses off and snuggled into him when he returned from setting them on his bedside table.

The producer passed out rather quickly, and only once Minho was certain that the younger was asleep did Minho text Chan a short message telling him that Jisung with him and promising an explanation. He pressed a soft kiss to the crown of Jisung’s head once more before settling into a restless sleep.

  
  


The alarm woke Minho up later that morning. He groaned and rolled over, turning it off bitterly. He had several worried texts from Chan, as well as two from Changbin who must’ve heard from Chan about Jisung fleeing his house once again. Minho responded by saying he would explain to them at school before tossing his phone back on the table and turning to face a still miraculously sleeping Jisung. Minho shook his shoulder gently, rousing him much easier this time with the simple touch than on Saturday morning.

“Hyung… just a few more minutes.” Jisung murmured in slurred speech, not opening his eyes.

“Sorry, Sungie, we gotta be at school in 30 minutes and still need to get breakfast.”

Jisung’s eyes sprang open at the reminder of school, “Shit, I left my backpack at home. Hyung what am I gonna do.”

“Don’t worry, we can stop on our way to school and I can go in and get it.”

“No!” Jisung’s voice was just slightly quieter than a shout, startling Minho, “Sorry, it’s just… I don’t want you to meet my parents, like ever. My backpack is not worth it.”

Minho knew it was not something he could argue about with the younger, so he only nodded, “Ok, if you’re sure. Now c’mon we both need to eat before we leave.”

  
  


Chan and Changbin were waiting at the entrance of the school wearing matching expressions of concern (though, to Changbin’s credit, he was able to hide it better). They embraced Jisung sweetly, the way older brothers would their younger brother.

“What happened Ji?” Changbin questioned with a tender look.

“Can we talk about it somewhere else? The AD classroom?” Jisung somewhat pleaded, looking between the three olders. Changbin and Chan exchanged a glance and nodded, taking up protective stances on either side of the younger as they began their walk to the classroom. Apparently it was unanimously agreed upon that 1st block could wait until Jisung’s problem was sorted out.

The Art Division classroom was, predictably, vacant when they got there. Changbin locked it behind them before joining the other three in the small circle they had situated themselves in on the floor.

“Ok Jisung, full story, spare no details.” Chan demanded, grabbing Jisung’s hand in a vice grip.

So Jisung explained to them exactly what had happened. He had spent the night at Chan’s on Saturday night, then spent all of Sunday in the library finishing weekend homework. He had returned home to a quiet house, though he knew everybody was home. In his room, he found his picture destroyed in the middle of the ground, pieces scattered all over. (At this, a few tears slipped down his face which Chan wiped away with his thumb) His mom and dad waiting in the doorframe of his room, closing the door before proceeding to scold him, then later yell at him. It was everything they usually told him but it evolved into something more. Something harsher, their words cutting deeper than before. Every word was intended to _hurt_ to wound him, and Jisung stood and took it all. He had called Minho as he rushed to pack a bag, aware that Chan had a university test before school the next morning. He had abandoned the bag in his haste to leave when his parents began threatening to send him back to Malaysia.

Changbin tackled Jisung onto his back, holding the younger tightly, “Oh god, Ji, I’m so sorry, so so sorry.”

Chan shifted to fit his hand into Jisung’s hair, “I’m glad you’re safe. That’s what matters above all else.”

“The picture…” Jisung whispered.

“I know Sungie, but we’ll get you another, one with Minho-hyung in it this time.” Changbin proposed, finally pulling away and helping Jisung into a sitting position, “How does that sound.”

Jisung side eyed Changbin suspiciously, “Bedazzled?”

Changbin scoffed, “Of fucking course, what do you think we are? Heathens?”

Jisung giggled slightly at that, nodding, “Ok. I hesitantly agree.”

Chan was watching the exchange with a fond smile, which fell when he made eye contact with Minho. He visibly steeled himself before prodding into the delicate subject, “Sungie…”

“I know what you’re gonna say.”

“Just hear me out,” Chan pleaded, “Please Sung, you gotta get out of there. Come live with me. Please, we’ll take care of you better than they ever did.”

Chan, Changbin, and Minho all watched the visible struggle on Jisung’s face as he picked his words carefully, “I’ve agreed to… consider the possibility of _maybe_ moving in with either you or Minho-hyung. Maybe! Please take note of my ‘maybe’.”

“Noted. Are you serious?” Chan’s attempt at hiding his hopefulness was subpar at best. The eldest glanced between Jisung and Minho a couple of times with a small smile, “That’s great Sungie.”

“Don’t get too excited, I’m just hesitantly considering it. I haven’t agreed to anything.” Jisung clarified with a stern frown that seemed vastly out of place on his usually bright face.

“I know I know. But still, it’s a step forward at least.” Chan appeased easily.

Changbin patted the youngest’s back, “Where are you staying tonight?”

“Uh… I hadn’t thought that far ahead honestly. I don’t have any clothes or anything really. I guess I kinda need to sneak back in a grab that, huh?”

Minho noted to himself how Jisung didn’t directly answer the question.

“I’ll grab your stuff on my way home today, Ji, don’t worry about that part.” Changbin stated firmly. “So, you’ll be at Chan-hyung’s tonight.”

“Of course he will!” Chan answered for Jisung with nod.

Jisung guiltily chewed at his bottom lip, “Hyung… your entrance exams are too soon. You need all the time you can get to study and prep for those.”

“Doesn’t mean my favorite dongsaeng can’t come spend a few nights with me.” Chan said, though concern was written across his face at Jisung’s sudden hesitance.

“I can’t, hyung, you need that time. I’ll stay at Lixie’s or maybe Hyunjin’s.” Jisung attempted to sound assured, but the wobble in his voice made it clear to everyone that he was unsure about his options.

“He’ll stay with me again.” Minho’s tone left no room for argument, “I’m more than happy to let you stay as long as you need. Even if that means your undoubtedly short life span.”

Changbin snorted as Jisung cried indignantly, “Wah! Rude, hyung. I taught you better than that!”

“In the short time I’ve known you, you’ve taught me absolutely nothing except how to internalize all of my annoyed screaming.”

Minho’s teasing effectively eased a bit of the tension that had lay over the room, both Changbin and Jisung visibly relaxing at the familiar dynamics.

“Alright, then it’s settled. Sung will stay with Minho for now, Changbin will pick up his stuff from his house, and I will try in vain to not go insane out of worry for all of my children.”

“And Woojin!” Changbin added.

Chan shook his head despairingly, “And Woojin. It’s so hard being a single father.”

  


Word spread quickly through their friend group about Jisung’s fight and all the friends had their own personal ways of showing they cared. Woojin didn’t let go of Jisung’s hand through the entirety of lunch, feeding him gummy snacks and keeping him entertained with stories of the kids that he occasionally babysat for. Hyunjin quietly turned in several of his own homework assignments under Jisung’s name, opting to take the zeros instead. Jeongin let up on his usual teasing and instead indulged Jisung in some outrageous conspiracy theories he found online. Seungmin quietly listened to music with the blonde during a couple of their shared classes, pressing close to Jisung’s side. Of course Felix practically refused to let Jisung out of his sight, accompanying his fellow sunshine twin to all of his classes shamelessly despite the teacher’s repremations.

By the end of the day, some of the color had returned to their squirrel’s face and his gummy smile was on display.

Minho could only hope that the mood would last.

  


Luckily, Jisung put up very little fight when Minho insisted that they leave school directly after school instead of working on the song. Felix accompanied them to a milk tea food truck that was parked at the college campus, the trio walking around for a little as they sipped their drinks and talked idly about school.

Felix left them to catch the bus to his house when they got to Minho’s house, hugging the pair tightly with promises (more like threats in Minho’s professional opinion) to facetime them later. Inside, a note was stuck to the refrigerator, letting Minho know that his dad would be staying with his grandmother for the night and his mom would be at the office late.

Minho ignored it with a sigh, tossing it in the trash and getting Jisung a juicebox.

“So neither of my parents will be here for awhile, we have free reign over the house.” Minho told the younger.

Jisung cocked his head, “You know what that means, hyung, right?” He asked seriously.

Minho did not know, “I do not know.”

“It is our moral obligation, as citizens of this galaxy, no, as citizens of this _universe_ , to make a blanket fort.”

“A... blanket fort.”

Jisung nodded sagely, mouthing the words along with him. “The best blanket fort in the history of blanket forts.”

“Is… is there a history of blanket forts? Is that like, a genuine thing?”

Jisung disregarded the question, tugging Minho’s sleeve, “Hyung c’ _mon_ ! We need blankets, well duh because it’s a _blank-_ doesn’t matter,” Jisung rambled distractedly, leading Minho through _Minho’s_ house in search of the perfect supplies, “Obviously we need pillows for the cushioning, and all of the stuffed animals you own and… and flashlights! So so many flashlights.”

“Jisung.” Minho interrupted stopping in his tracks to stop Jisung’s mindless wandering.

“Hyung we don’t have time to dilly dally!”  
“Jisung, you have no idea where you’re going.”

“Semantics. Please help me.”

  


Changbin dropped off Jisung’s school bag and a small backpack stuffed full of clothes some time later. He hugged Minho, whispering a quiet thanks in his ear before ruffling Jisung’s hair and leaving once again.

It was getting dark out and the chill of the outside was seeping into Minho’s house slowly. They both changed into more comfortable clothes before moving back into the living room and returning to the construction of their fort.

They were pretty shit at it, in all honesty.

It took nearly an hour for Jisung to be content with what they had made, and Minho took another 15 minutes to perfect it. They stuffed all the flashlights they could into the fort, pushing them into pillow cases and under blankets to mute their intensity.

Near 8 at night, they started dinner. Chan had given _very_ clear instructions to absolutely not let Jisung help with dinner, but Minho didn’t see the harm in giving the younger a harmless task like peeling some potatoes, if only to keep him busy and out of trouble.

They ate in peace in the fort, not many words passed between them. Jisung seemed rather contemplative and Minho didn’t want to push the younger to talk if he wasn't ready. Instead, Minho started a movie and pulled Jisung into a cuddle, settling in to what would probably be a sleepless night for the both of them.

  


“Hyung?”

Minho had just started to doze off when Jisung’s voice cut through the room. The older hummed in response, turning on his side to look at the other, who was laying on his back staring at the ceiling of the blanket fort.

“Hyung let’s dye my hair.” Jisung stated firmly. Minho’s heart stuttered slightly and he propped himself up on his forearm to peer at the younger’s face.

“What color do you want?”

Jisung grinned, “I’m thinking purple. But not like, dark purple or anything, think lilac purple. Like Sanha’s hair! Except maybe a little darker cause I don’t wanna wash out my complexion or anything”

Minho was slightly lost, “Sanha…”

“Oh he’s in my grade, literal giant but the biggest fluff ball I’ve ever met. His hyungs are super funny too. I accidently got in Eunwoo’s car once and we ended up going to the beach together.”

“Right. Sure. As one does.”

“Yeah. So anyways _purple_.”

“Ok, let’s get purple.”

Jisung sat up suddenly and looked at Minho with questioning eyes, “You’re… you’re serious?”

Minho shrugged and tried to act nonchalant as he responded, “It’s your hair Jisung, do as you please with it.”

Minho knew it wasn’t as simple as that. This was Jisung’s unconscious grab at something that he could control. He didn’t have control over his parents, his home life, even his own emotions. But his hair, that was something he could control. Minho understood that and was willing to do what it took to help the other feel even the slightest bit better.

Jisung stayed silent, biting his lip and staring Minho down with wide eyes.

Minho rolled his eyes and smiled, “Let’s go you nerd, the convenience store is only a ten minute walk.”

  


“Careful hyung, I’m a treasure so please treat me as one.” Jisung quipped from below Minho. He was carefully balancing a chair on its back two legs so his head to rest comfortably in the bathroom sink. Minho was standing over him, applying the dye as gently as he could, of course Jisung complained anyway.

In retaliation, Minho yanked a strand harshly, eliciting a surprised yelp from the younger.

The trip to the nearest convenience had been, shockingly enough, rather mild. Jisung had demanded that they both leave their phones at the house to “increase bonding between us you fool”. Despite Minho’s better judgement he had complied with the ridiculous rule, only slightly terrified at the prospect of not being able to get ahold of Chan if something went wrong. The hair dye was easy enough to find and Jisung had been able to find just enough money in his backpack to afford it. They got back to Minho’s house around 1 in the morning and set right to work on the hair.

“Jisung I think it’s gonna be too dark. Like grape flavored Jolly Rancher dark.” Minho told the younger when he was sure that he had gotten every last strand of Jisung’s hair.

“Add in conditioner.”

“That’s not gonna work.”

“Yes it will.”

“No it won’t.”

“Yes it will!”

“Not it won’t!” To enunciate his point, Minho tugged at Jisung’s hair once again. Jisung sulked and didn’t reply, instantly making Minho feel slightly guilty. _Slightly_. “Ok how about this, we wash some of this stuff out of your hair so that the dye is super light and we do another batch with the conditioner mixed into the dye.”

Jisung huffed and crossed his arms.

Minho rolled his eyes, “I’ll bring my laptop in and you can watch Pingu.”

Jisung perked up, “Uh _deal!_ ”

Minho pulled the gloves off of his hands and left the younger to get his laptop, queuing up Pingu and setting it up on a stool in front of Jisung.

“Happy now you brat?”

Jisung hummed and relaxed backwards against the sink, eyes fixated on the screen.

Minho repressed a sigh and put on the gloves again, starting to run the water in the sink and waiting for it to warm up before beginning to wash the younger’s hair. He watched, transfixed at the color of the water as it ran into the drain. It made him feel strange, somewhat melancholy as he watched it go.

Jisung hummed quietly along to the theme song, if it could even be called that, and brought Minho back to the present. He continued the task mindlessly, listening to Jisung giggle amusedly at the clay penguin’s antics.

Jisung’s eyes kept slipping closed around an hour later as Minho blow dried his hair out, running his hand through the purple strands.

“Just a lil longer, Sungie, then we can go to bed.”

Jisung nodded and forced his eyes open, watching Minho as he moved around to completely dry his hair.

“How does it look hyung?”

“See for yourself.”

Jisung turned in the chair and peered at himself in the mirror. His fingers gently ran through the strands, mouth just slightly agape, “Woah. I… I like it. Thanks Minho-hyung.”

Minho ruffled the younger’s hair, watching him through the mirror, “Any time Sungie, now let’s get to bed before I have to carry you there.”

“Can we sleep in the blanket fort,” Jisung asked hopefully as he stood up, stretching a little, “Please, it can’t just go to waste!”

They would probably have horrible cramps the next morning.

And be sore all over.

But Minho found that he didn’t care much, “Sure Sungie, if you promise not a single complaint about being sore tomorrow.”

“Promise!”

  


The new hair color received positive feedback from everybody the next morning. Minghao and Mingyu both stopped them to compliment it. Chanhee played with it for 2 solid minutes before flouncing away with a chuckle. Sanha (holy shit, Jisung was right, Sanha was fucking _tall_ ) had tracked Jisung down and demanded they take a picture together. All before they even entered the school building.

Minho accompanied Jisung to his locker in the sophomore wing where Felix all but tackled Jisung, Hyunjin and Seungmin not far behind. Minho left the sophomores to take over for him and instead attempted to find Chan, which proved impossible when the 5 minute warning bell sounded.

Minho found that he wasn’t quite focused that day. While sitting in his, admittedly super boring, classes, his mind kept wandering back to the image of the dye washing down the drain. His mind refused to stray from the purple water and the dancer had no clue why he was so fixated on the detail. But the purple water.

Even in Art Division Minho was mistepping more often than usual, though his fellow dancers seemed sympathetic and didn’t press him on his distractedness. Towards the end of class Changbin called the dance group over, explaining that they had finished the group portion of song and wanted to get their opinion.

“Obviously if it’s _terrible_ terrible then we can, I don’t know, just trash it entirely? Anyways be harsh.” Changbin babbled, pulling up the track on his computer and pushing Jisung and Chan away so the dancers could gather around. He set up the song quickly, then pulled up the footage of their dance to play so they could see how it fit.

The song started off melodic and smooth, transitioning into a quick beat with a flowing undertone. It fit perfectly.

It stayed quiet for a few seconds after the audio cut out. Changbin turned in his chair to look at them with a hesitant smile, which faded when he saw them.

“Oh god was it that bad? You all look like you just watched somebody blend up a live puppy or something.” Changbin said, his voice audibly hurt.

“What!” Yugyeom rounded on Changbin, “Jesus, no, we’re just shocked Changbin! That was, holy shit that was amazing! How did you do that!”

“Uh…”

“That matched literally every beat,” Hoshi gushed, “And when we did that one turn and the music went _dududushhh_...wah that was awesome.”

Minho patted Changbin’s back and patted his back reassuringly, “Seriously amazing Changbin-ah. It’s gonna be perfect.”

Changbin beamed up at him, laughing slightly. “So you guys approve? It works?”

Lip nodded firmly, “Works amazingly, we’ll start practicing with it tomorrow.”

Chan and Jisung both surged forward from where they had been watching anxiously, attacking Changbin with hugs and kisses.

“We told you they would love it!”

“Amazing Changbinnie! Proud of you!”

The dancers moved back to let the producers celebrate together. Hoshi turned to them with a look of astonishment, “I just don’t understand how they do that! It was literally exactly how we wanted it.”

“God I can’t even imagine, that would be so hard,” Yugyeom commented with a shake of his head.

Minho looked over his shoulder and watched as the trio packed up their bags, talking excitedly between each other, “If anyone could do it, it would be them.”

Lip scoffed, “You have such a fucking soft spot Minho, _honestly_.”

  


The rest of the week followed similarly. Jisung stayed at Minho’s house, charming both of his parents effortlessly. They set up a cot in Minho’s room, but the younger ended up either on the floor or in Minho’s bed most nights. At school the producers continued to finish and present their parts of the track proudly. Each of them was amazing. Chan’s section for Lip and Yugyeom’s duet and their solos were dark and intense, causing goosebumps when seen alongside the choreo. Jisung’s for Hoshi and Minho’s duet and solos were uplifting and light, like cherry blossoms on the breeze or bubbles in a stream. Minho had planted a firm kiss to the crown of Jisung’s hair after he had listened to it for the first time.

(It wasn’t weird because Hoshi kissed both of Jisung’s cheeks and then proceeded to _smother_ the sophomore to his chest as he cried dramatically about his children growing up so _ha_.)

On Friday the track was finished completely, transitions, beats, instrumentals, every part was accounted for and downloaded. In celebration, the dance crew and 3racha went to dinner together at the local thai food restaurant. Accompanying them was, predictably, Felix and Wonwoo. Hoshi had both of them tucked under each arm despite their protests, monologuing loudly to them about the excellence of all his children. Minho tuned him out when he started likening Yugyeom to Fred Astaire because _what_. Instead, Minho fell into step beside Chan and Jisung who were arguing about their own winter showcase pieces.

“WOW would be legendary hyung, can you imagine how _funny_ it would be to see the principal’s reaction to that song!” Jisung argued with a wave of his hands.

Chan looked at Jisung incredulously, “I cannot believe you. That song, though it’s not bad, is not at all appropriate and is not particularly accurate for any of us.”

“Why? Because it’s about girls but you and I are both bi and Changbin is gay?” Jisung questioned with a grimace. He peered around Chan to stare straight at Minho, “By the way me and Chan are both bi and proud and Changbin is gay. Got a problem.”

“It would be hypocritical of me to have a problem when I’m pan… so no, no problem here.” Minho replied as deadpan as he could muster while his heart thundered in his chest. “Plus, I kinda already knew, you guys aren’t exactly subtle.”

“Good,” Jisung nodded his head with pursed lips, “People gotta know not to get in the way of me, y’know. They can only have one, but _I_ can have both.”

“Jokes on you, I can have all.”

Jisung stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at Minho. Minho, being the good and mature hyung that he was, did one right back. Chan chose that moment to step between them.

“Ok so we’ve established that now, on top of the disaster bi that I already have to take care of, I also need to take care of a chaotic pan. I think I’m living in hell.”

“Hell wouldn’t gift you with someone as hot as me,” Jisung quipped.

“Or someone as kind and generous as me.” Minho added.

“I hate both of you.”

  


After a somewhat successful lunch, Jisung pulled Minho aside while everyone else conversed directly in front of the restaurant.

“Hyung I think I’m gonna try to go home tonight.”

Minho’s stomach dropped and he stared at Jisung questioningly, hoping that he hadn’t done anything wrong to drive the younger to do this.

“Why? Is everything ok?”

Jisung must’ve heard the slight panic in Minho’s voice because he was quick to reassure the older, grabbing his biceps softly, “Yeah, everything’s fine but I don’t want to overstay my welcome with your parents and my parents will probably go back to ignoring my until our next fight, so at least I can be home with my siblings for a little.”

“Jisung you could never overstay your welcome with my family, they love you.” Minho replied, his voice low to try and ease Jisung’s worry. “And what happened to you considering moving in with either me or Chan, have you thought about that some more.”

Jisung nodded, his purple hair bouncing into his eyes. Minho pushed it back absentmindedly as Jisung explained himself.

“I know, I’ve been thinking a lot and very seriously about it but, I just, I _can’t_ , hyung, I can’t leave them behind.”

Minho nodded in understanding, “Ok Jisungie, if you’re sure. We can grab your stuff from my house and then I’ll walk you home, ok?”

Jisung offered Minho a tight lipped smile, “Thanks hyung, sorry for all the trouble.”

The pair set off to join the group, who were now waiting for them expectantly. Minho huffed exasperatedly at Jisung’s reply.

“You aren’t any trouble Jisung, I’ll always be here to help, no matter what.” Minho stated firmly, watching from the corner of his eye as Jisung’s balled fists unclenched to start playing with the hem of his sweater. “But you’re the one who’s gonna explain this to Chan and Changbin, I want zero part of that.”

“Hyung!”

  


Neither Chan or Changbin took it well, which was to be expected of the mini family. But their protests and reasoning fell on deaf ears, Jisung was stuck on the idea of going home to his siblings.

“Ok, call any of us if you need literally anything at all, ok Sungie? And remember the bus driver will give you free rides to my house. Oh and there are two packets of instant ramen in there if you need it. Als-”

“Hyung he gets it.” Felix intervened, pulling Chan away from where he was fretting over the younger. “But in all seriousness, Sung, if you need me I’m just a call away. No disappearing for a week lik-”

“Ok ok, no need to bring that up,” Jisung cut off the orange haired boy, pushing him away lightly, “I promise to all of you that if I need anything I will let you know, satisfied?”

“Would be more satisfied if you agreed to just _move out_.” Changbin muttered darkly, Chan kicking his shin darkly in retaliation.

“Text in the group chat when you get there ok?” Minho said, ignoring the exchange beside him. Jisung turned his attention to Minho and nodded softly.

“Got it hyung, now away with all of you! No more worrying about me!”

“Impossible.” Changbin stated.

“I’m sorry, have you _met_ me!” Chan cried, throwing his hands in the air.

Minho pushed Jisung gently towards the bus stop, “I’ll watch out for them, be safe, don’t get off on the wrong stop and end up lost in the auto park again-”

“That was once!”  
“-and don’t get distracted by the stray cats, as cute and irresistible as they may be.”

Felix snorted, “You really are like a toddler aren’t you?”

“Yah! Shoo! No more of this needless slander on my name!” Jisung made shooing motions with his hands, forcefully pushing Felix backwards when the younger (by a single day but Jisung would _never_ let go of the authority that the age gap allowed him) refused to move.

“Bye Sungie!”

The four left walked down to the college campus together, sitting in one of the courtyards. The campus was relatively quiet since not many students willingly took Friday classes. They settled into one of the tables in the side courtyard, taking advantage of the last few hours of sunlight that they could soak up. The conversation quickly turned from playful quips to discussing Jisung’s situation and, surprisingly, Jeongin.

“Jeongin has pretty bad anxiety,” Changbin explained to Minho when he caught sight of the older’s confused expression, “He refuses to take his prescription though because it messes with his emotions too much.”

Minho nodded his understanding, “Is his anxiety acting up right now or something?”

Changbin and Chan both looked towards Felix who startled at the sudden attention, looking slightly taken aback, “What? Why me?”

“Because we know that Jeongin talks to you guys, the sophomores that is, more than the hyungs, he’s more comfortable with it.” Chan patted Felix’s arm, “Has he told you about why it’s acting up.”

“Yeah,” Felix’s shoulder’s sagged a little and he refused to make eye contact with anyone, “He was texting me and Seungmin about it the other day, he didn’t outright say but he kinda hinted vaguely at it.”

“Well what did he say?” Changbin pressed, protective side flaring up at the topic of their youngest friend’s well being.

“Mostly it’s honors choir. He feels a lot of pressure to join because Woojin is Head Organizer right now and Seungmin is chair 1 tenor. Plus his mom has been pressing a bit more about his grades lately. And…” Felix trailed off from his explanation looking hesitant on whether or not he should carry on.

“And what Felix?” Chan’s voice was gentle and left room for Felix to refuse if he felt the need to.

“And you can’t tell any of the other what I’m about to tell you, especially Jisung because he would blame himself and bottle everything up and we’d lose all the progress we’ve been making lately in convincing him to move out.”

Felix’s babbling was endearingly close to Jisung’s in the whole _word waterfall-never stopping_ fashion. Not for the first time, Minho found himself admiring how well the nickname “Sunshine Twins” really fit.

“Felix…” Changbin forced out between grit teeth. Minho supposed that the whole endearing-ness of the rambling would fade with time if Changbin’s reaction was anything to go by.

“Ok ok, god. Jeongin kinda sorta hinted that some of his anxiety is being caused by Jisung’s situation with his parents. Like the mixture of Jisung being stuck and unable to leave and also the fact that he can’t do anything to help.” Felix finished, still not looking at anybody but rather finding an ant crawling on the table extremely fascinating.

Chan leaned backwards and closed his eyes, tipping his head towards the sky to release air slowly though his nose. Changbin hunched over himself, bracing himself against the table with a small, uncharacteristic whine.

Minho rubbed a hand against his forehead, trying desperately to think of something, anything, to say to help his distressed friends.

He came up laughably short.

Chan, however, did not. “It’s ok, guys, _guys_ ,” The three youngers looked to Chan expectantly, “There’s not much that we can do about the Jisung thing, but we can focus on helping Innie with the choir part of it. Compliments, constant compliments, send him funny animal videos, take him to the cafe in the afternoon, bring him treats at school. Show him that we support him and believe in his success.”

Changbin nodded resolutely, “I can do that. Easy. Spoiling my dongsaengs is my favorite past time.”

“But don’t overdo it,” Chan warned, taking the time to look each of them in the eye, “Jeongin doesn’t like it when we baby him, remember that ok?”

“We got this hyung.” Felix reassured him, looking considerably brighter than a few seconds ago.

“As for Jisung, we’ve obviously gotten further since Minho’s started talking to him, but it’s gonna take time, we have to be careful about it.” Chan carried on, “Jisung’s never gonna agree to it if he feels like his siblings will start receiving the same treatment. Or if he’s not forced out which, at this point, it may end up being.”

“Is…” Minho’s voice cracked slightly and he cleared his throat, “Is this the worst fight they’ve been in?”

All attention fixated on him. Felix was looking between Chan and Minho while chewing harshly on his lip. Chan regarded Minho quietly.

“It’s one of the worst that I can remember. The worst was before Malaysia.”

“Malaysia…” Minho trailed off. The entire topic of Jisung’s time in the foreign country always seemed so off limits, so distant. It was always brought up amongst an air of hesitance and regret, something that clearly none of them wanted to talk about at all.

Across from him, Chan continued to study Minho’s face with a calculating gaze. The other two remained quiet, waiting to hear how the oldest addressed the issue. After a few seconds, Chan sighed.

“He talked about this with me, if you were wondering. Jisung, I mean, he talked about whether or not he wanted you to know about the whole issue of Malaysia.” Chan said, sounding sad and defeated, uncharacteristic for the usually caring and soft boy. His eyes were dark and slightly glazed as he spoke, obviously not entirely focused on those around him. “There’s something… _liberating_ about having real, close friends that don’t really know what happened, but he told me that he thinks you deserve to know. And that he’s comfortable with me telling you.”

Minho straightened as thoughts flew through his head, “He said that? He’s really ok with me knowing?”

“He’s more than ok with it, Minho, he wants you to know.” Chan’s eyes were imploring, begging for Minho to understand something that Minho wasn’t sure he was ready to admit. Chan seemed to sense this, as he brought his shoulders up slightly and licked his lips, nodding to himself. “I’m going to vastly simplify it, both for your sake and Jisung’s, ok?”

Minho found that he couldn’t even nod in conformation. Felix reached and took Minho’s hand in his, offering a tight lipped smile.

“Jisung’s parents sent him to his uncle in Malaysia in Grade 4. He stayed there until the break of Grade 6, when his uncle sent him back to his parents. That parts easy to understand. It’s the legal part that gets a little messy and confusing.” The eldest ran his hand through his hair and looked to Changbin for help.

Changbin quickly continued when he saw the older’s plea for help, “The legal part of it is a lot of custody issues. Before he was sent away, his parents were a bit more upfront with their distaste in Jisung. They didn’t hit him, at least that we know of, but they did withhold food, lock him in his room, purposefully leave him at school or the market. It was really cruel ways to hurt him. They kind of conditioned him to not talk about it either, he always assumed that it was normal behavior for parents. He slept at my house when we were little and refused to eat breakfast because he had accidentally spilled a glass of water.”

Minho tightened his grip on Felix’s hand, who looked towards him with worry. Changbin’s voice had gone slightly deeper with emotion as he struggled to tell the story.

“His grandmother found out when Jisung spent the night at her house, and she applied for full custody of Jisung directly after. His parents sent him to Malaysia to keep custody over him, if he was ‘studying abroad’ then he couldn’t testify to the mistreatment and custody couldn’t be granted. His uncle is a super busy business man who had absolutely no time to watch after a kid and ended up neglecting him pretty badly because of it. Jisung couldn’t speak any Malaysian and had to sleep in homeless shelters and camps for days at a time when he couldn’t find his way home.”

“Jesus…” Minho breathed out. Changbin lowered his head, Minho couldn’t even imagine what the younger had gone through when he found out about all of this. The deep love that the entire group had was evident, but the connection between 3racha was unrivaled.

“Needless to say, Jisung’s grandmother lost the battle and passed away a few months later. After that, his uncle shipped him back home with a rather scathing letter about how much time and resources Jisung had taken up. Jisung’s parents have been like they are now ever since. Though their fights have become much harsher and close together in the recent months.”

“Jisung…” Apparently, Minho was no longer capable of making full, coherent sentences.

“Speak of the devil,” Chan quipped when his phone started vibrating on the table, Jisung’s contact flashing on the screen, “Hey kid, you make it ok?”

Chan sat up suddenly, listening intently to whatever Jisung had to say, his grip tightening around his phone, “Jisung, hey hey, Sungie you need to slow down I can’t- no no that’s not what I- just explain what’s going on!”

Changbin, Minho and Felix exchanged panicked looks as Chan’s concerned face turned slowly to shock, then anger.

“Ok, we’re coming, your hyungs are coming ok, it’s gonna be ok Sungie, we’ll be there in a second.”

“Hyungs _and Felix_ ” Felix grumbled under his breath.

“Not the time you idiot!” Changbin scolded with an incredulous look.

“Stay safe, we love you.” Chan hung up the phone and grabbed his stuff hurriedly, “C’mon, he’s in trouble we gotta go.”

The four began jogging down the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians in their rush to reach the bus station.

Changbin held on to the straps of his backpack, “What happened? What’s wrong?”

Chan shook his head, “I don’t know, he wasn’t clear but he’s at his house and he needs us. That’s all that matters.”

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah wild ride
> 
> hope you guys like it, i'm not sure how i feel about it but hopefully it isnt complete shit

Changbin wouldn’t stop tapping his foot. The bus rolled on, stopping to drop off passengers and take others on, all of which were oblivious to the conflict that the four teenagers were facing and caring about their own world and problems and- _Changbin would not stop tapping his damn foot_.

The sound was intrusive and too loud and too close and Minho felt as if his entire body was going into overdrive as he listened to the stupid tapping of the foot.

Chan was holding on to the pole, standing over them in typical Chan fashion, forever the protector, forever the hyung. Felix was sat on the other side of Changbin, frantic in every miniscule movement he made. Every time the bus stopped, Felix was shooting from his seat, only to be pushed back down by Chan. Everytime someone spoke, coughed, cleared their throat, Felix’s head would be whipping towards them with wide eyes.

God they were a mess.

But it was _Jisung_. They had to get to the purple haired boy, who each of them cared about in such starkly different ways. Chan as an older brother, Changbin as a confidant, Felix as a best friend and twin, Minho as possibly something more.

The lady across the aisle from Minho was moving her foot to the beat of a song. Her foot hit the energy drink resting on the ground, the liquid spilling out in a frothy mess on the ground. _Purple down the drain, dyed water with dyed hands and dyed hair and desperation and a sudden loss of control and purple-_

The bus lurched to a stop and Chan didn’t have to say anything for the other three to understand that this was the stop. They flew past the spillage, Felix shouting an apology for not stopping to help, then took off down the significantly less crowded street, now that they were out of the city. Their feet hit the ground in a symphony and Minho suspected that Felix was crying and maybe Changbin was too but nothing was clear anymore and nothing made sense and he just had to see Jisung.

Finally Minho caught a glimpse of a street sign that he recognized, picking up his pace at the sudden familiarity of the area.

They rounded a corner, nearly running into a man walking his dog, and were finally, _finally_ , on Jisung’s street. Then they were half a block away, then a few houses, then they were skidding to a stop in front of the picturesque house where a figure was standing, hunched slightly at the shoulders. A duffle bag was on the ground on one side and a guitar on the other.

“Jisung!” Minho called out first, which seemed to shock the others from their own thoughts because suddenly everybody was shouting.

“What happened! Are you ok, please tell me you’re ok, please Sungie-”

“Ji whoever hurt you I swear I will kill them, kill them so so badly and then resurrect their sorry asses so that I can kill them again, _Ji_ -”

“Sung what’s wrong, tell us what happened, we can fix it together I _promise_.”

Chan, Changbin, and Felix, respectively, talked over each other with varying degrees of hysteria.

Jisung turned towards them rather slowly, still pulling his shoulders up and hugging his arms around his middle. There were tear tracks on his cheeks, but no sign of fresh tears. He offered them a soft smile, “They kicked me out.”

“Oh Ji.”

“They’re moving to the coast in a week and decided they didn’t want the extra baggage.” He continued, a few tears slipping out, which he ignored as they splattered on to his (Woojin’s, actually) hoodie.

“Jisung, god, Jisung I’m so sorry.” Chan replied, moving towards the younger and stretching his arms out, pulling Jisung safely against his chest. Changbin followed right after, then Felix and Minho attached themselves to the group hug.

“They gave me some cash and said they’d move some money into my account every month as long as I didn’t disturb them or anything so…”

“You know that you’re moving in with me right? Like I think I’ll go insane if you don’t agree to move in with me, Jisung _please_.”

“I know hyung, but I can’t”

Chan pulled away, staring the younger down disbelievingly, “What do you mean? Where are you gonna go.”

Jisung shuffled backwards a couple of steps, refusing to meet any of their imploring eyes, “I’m moving into a group home for a little.”

“Sung no, please, you know what those are like, just move in with Chan-hyung, he’ll-”

Jisung cut Felix off, sounding simultaneously distraught and desperate, “No I, I _have_ to, my parents-”   
“Screw your parents!” Changbin shouted. He lowered his voice when he saw the startled expressions of the two youngest, “Sorry, sorry it’s just… Jisung they kicked you out. They don’t get any type of say in where you live from now on.”

“They do as long as they’re giving me the money I need to survive.” It was a simple fact, but undeniable. As long as his parents controlled his income…

“C’mon, we can talk this through later, but for now, let’s head back to my place,” Chan stepped up once again, grabbing Jisung’s duffel and slinging a guiding arm around the younger’s shoulders.

Minho sidled up on the other side of Jisung while Changbin grabbed the guitar and they started back towards the bus station, significantly slower this time around. “Glad you’re not hurt, dork, I thought the worst and expected to find you being attacked by some angry chair children out to avenge their father.”

God, was Minho seriously incapable of comforting the younger _without_ also being a total smart ass. Luckily, Jisung let out a surprised snort, his hand finding Minho’s, “Nah, those chairs are… how should I put this delicately… they no longer pose a threat to me, if you catch my drift.”

The cheeky boy added a teary eyed wink to the end of his comment.

Minho gasped theatrically, feigning intense shock, “Jisung, you didn’t! They’re mere children! Have you no mercy?”

“Mercy belongs to the elderly and the weak. I, unlike you, are neither.” Jisung sniffed, turning his head away from Minho for show, and also as a feeble attempt to hide his growing smile. “If you didn’t understand, I’m calling you weak and old, what’re you gonna do about?”

Before Minho could carry on the act, Chan groaned loudly, “I can’t take you two anywhere, I swear. I honestly can’t tell who the bad influence is between you guys.”

“We are symbiotic, hyung, we feed off each other.”

“Jisung. It’s literally all Jisung, he has corrupted a perfect, moral man and made him the monster you see today.”

Jisung looked scandalized, reeling at the older at the sudden accusation, “Hyung how _dare_ you! After everything I’ve done! I killed a table for you!”

“I did not ask nor want you to do that for me!” Minho cried, dodging Jisung’s weak punch, “That was your own delusional attempt at revenge because you’re blind but refuse to admit it!”

“Just so we’re clear,” Felix cut in, “You guys didn’t like, actually go out and chop up a table, right? Cause I know both of you are unpredictable but c’mon, have some self control for once.”

Nobody answered the freckled boy, Changbin only offered him a sympathetic pat on the head as they came up to the bus stop, halting beneath the sign to wait for their ride.

Minho attempted to keep Jisung pleasantly distracted for the short amount of time that they had to wait for, offering an earbud to the younger so they could watch Unsolved together. Though Minho, as the logical person he was, knew that most of the supernatural theories were complete bullshit, Jisung apparently lacked all common sense and was easily enraptured by the series, nodding along to everything the hosts’ had to stay. Minho was tempted to play one of the True Crime episodes for the purple haired boy but held himself back, knowing that he was a chicken when it came to scary things and that he would probably end up even more sleep deprived than he currently was.

“Do you think that Bigfoot’s name is like, low key kinkshaming him?” Minho asked seriously as they shuffled on to the bus. Behind the pair, Chan choked in surprise, nearly tripping as he stepped through the door.

“Would that make Mothman a furry?” Jisung asked, settling into the seat beside Minho.

“What in God’s name would that make the Abominable Snowman?” Minho offered instead of answering.

Jisung puffed his cheeks slightly, “C’mon, hyung, everyone knows the Abominable Snowman isn’t real.”

“Right but… but Mothman and Bigfoot are. Of course.” Minho did not like how serious Jisung looked as he nodded, “Ok so we’ve established that you think Mothman and Bigfoot are real. Cool. I genuinely don’t know what to do with that information.”

Jisung nudged Minho’s shoulder playfully, causing the older to look down at him, nudging him back slightly before returning his attention to the screen in front of them.

The ride to Chan’s was short and quiet, the friends all lost in their own world. As they were walking the quick distance between the bus stop and Chan’s house, Felix abruptly stopped, reading something intently on his phone. When he looked up to meet the worried glances of the others, he was noticably paler.

“So nobody freak out-”

“Horrible way to start a sentence, all things considered.” Chan grit out.

“-but Seungmin just texted and told me Jeongin had a pretty bad anxiety attack.”

Jisung shuffled his weight from one foot to the other, toying with his hands as his eyebrows furrowed in concern, “Is he ok? Should we go check on him? God, I didn’t even know his anxiety was bothering him again.”

“No, no don’t worry, Seungmin asked me to come to his place and distract him until Hyunjin can sneak over. I think it should be ok.” Felix answered with a placating smile, “Really, you guys go ahead and sort this out, tell me what happens, I’ll go help with Innie, I think I’ll be more useful over there anyways.”

Minho noticed how both Changbin and Chan tensed minimally at the last comment, but let it slide for the time being. Two friend crises were enough to deal with, they would work on Felix’s self esteem later.

Jisung did a small, stupidly endearing waddle towards Felix, hugging the orange haired boy tightly and whispering something in his ear. Whatever it was made Felix grin and blush slightly, hiding his glowing cheeks in his friend’s neck. They pulled away with promises of snapchatting each other (ugh, gen z kids) before Felix waved a final time to them and turned to head back to the bus stop.

Chan’s front door was unlocked and the eldest shouted a greeting to his mother as the group kicked off their shoes. The green hair boy parted briefly from them to explain what was happening to his mom while Minho and Changbin took Jisung and all his stuff to Chan’s room in hopes of sorting out the issue of the living situation.

“Ok explain it to me slowly. Act as if I’m a seven year old?” Changbin told Jisung, settling in to Chan’s rolling chair.

Jisung smirked, “Hardly have to act for that, hyung.” He teased lightly, yelping when the older slapped his leg harshly, “Alright alright, no more height jokes, got it.”

“You can’t make height jokes when you’re barely taller than him, Jisungie.” Minho pointed out, “It’s in bad taste to tease your own kind.”

“Oh really? You wanna see how far your height will get you in a fight against me hyung, come at me, I dare you.” Jisung stood up from the bed with a mock scowl, patting his chest a couple of times in a vain attempt to appear intimidating. Minho pushed himself away from the wall, taking a threatening step towards the younger when Chan pulled him back.

“That would hardly be a fair fight, Minho, squirrels are known for being weak.” He quipped, already pushing the youngest back on to his bed when he turned to try and fight Chan instead. “All jokes aside now, explain it to us, as well as you can.”

Jisung nodded, all mirth and playfulness leaving his face, “I didn’t understand a lot of it. They’re moving to the coast for my mother’s job, but aren’t going to be taking me with them. They said they will put a sum of money into my bank account monthly for whatever needs may arise, but to not ask for anymore than that. They told me that in order for them to transfer the money, they need to know that I’m staying in the group home for boys that’s further in the city. If I’m not living there, I don’t get the money.”

Changbin let out a low whistle, “Like in all honesty, that’s so so fucked up. So so so fucked up. As in-”

“We get it, Binnie,” Chan interrupted him with a look of amusement, “Jisung, your parents have no possible way of knowing whether or not you’re in the group home, that’s completely ridiculous.”

“I know! Trust me I know....It’s just…I… They’re my parents ok? I know what they’re like, I know that the second they hear of me stepping out of line in _anyway_ they’re gonna just cut me out.” Jisung hung his head, trying in vain to hide his wet eyes.

Minho stepped forward and kneeled in front of the younger, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Jisung looked up, locking eyes with Minho.

“How about we brainstorm a little ok? Take a step back and look at this critically. If there is anything that I’ve learned in high school, it’s that there’s a loophole to everything”

Jisung let out a watery laugh while Chan muttered something about Minho being a bad influence but it didn’t matter to Minho, he had made Jisung laugh.

“Alright hyung, what do you suggest?”

The next hour was used to sit in a circle on the floor, bouncing whatever ideas they could come up with. They ranged between some actually pretty useful ones, like Chan’s idea of impersonating the head of the group home each month over email, to Minho’s arguably brilliant one of having Woojin seduce the head of the group home with his beautiful singing voice.

Though Jisung seemed interested in a few, and laughed hysterically at a few others, he was clearly disheartened by the lack of actual progress by the time Minho and Changbin had to leave.

Minho pulled him into a tight hug, murmuring one last apology before pulling away and ruffling his hair slightly. Jisung grinned up at him and opened his mouth to say something when Changbin encased him in a hug.

Chan grasped his arm tightly and nodded to the door. Minho took the signal and followed the older out to the hallway, leaving the pair to whatever they had to say.

“How are you doing Minho? With all of this, I mean.” Chan asked, watching Minho for any flicker of emotion.

Minho smiled gently at the other, attempting to look as sincere as possible, “I’m fine hyung, just worried about how all of this will play out. But you don’t need to worry about me.

Chan scoffed, “Uh have you _met_ me? My contact name is ‘Dad’ in almost all of the others’ phones, and some of them aren’t even joking about it.”

“Jisung?”

“And Seungmin, surprisingly.”

Minho nodded in understanding. Seungmin’s parents weren’t well known for being around or present in the boy’s life. When they bothered to show their faces they were both lovely and charming, doting excessively on Seungmin and giving the boy the attention he finally deserved, but more often than not they were away on business. “Really though, it’s a lot but for Jisung I’d do anything.”

“I know you would,” Chan was smiling at Minho now, mirth clear in his eyes which was not boding well for Minho, “Speaking of, I would love to tal-”

Changbin flounced out of the room, dragging a reluctant Jisung behind him, “We just had the most heartfelt and profound goodbye ever!”

Jisung groaned at the proclamation, “He made me say he was my favorite hyung in order for him to actually let me go.”

“I could practically _feel_ his love and devotion that he has for me, his _favorite_ hyung.”

Minho rounded on Jisung with a pout, “Really, he’s your favorite? After everything I’ve done for you? I gave you my _Pocky_!”

Jisung buried his face in his hands, “I can’t deal with this. I regret being friends with both of you.”

“Yah!”

“Watch your mouth kid!”

Minho and Changbin chorused. Chan rolled his eyes and ushered them towards the front door, shoving them outside and throwing their shoes for them before slamming the door shut.

Minho and Changbin hi fived in triumph.

  
  


**Not Quite Dad**

 

_6:03 am_

 

Hey wanna meet Jisung and I at the college cafe at 6:30?

 

I think he needs you.

  


Minho never showered so fast in his life.

  


When he got to the cafe they were seated near the windows already. Chan waved him over and pushed a latte to him while Jisung offered half of the scone he had been snacking on.

“So,” Chan started with a tired smile, “We think we have a solution.”

Minho choked slightly in his surprise, setting the drink down and looking between the pair questioningly, “Well? What is it?”

“I’m gonna move in with two foreign students.” Jisung said with a small bounce, his bangs, which weren’t parted today, swishing on his forehead.

“Oh? Who? When? How is it gonna work?”

Chan blew over the top of his tea before replying, “The landlord is also the one who controls the group home property. He’s agreed to write letters to Jisung’s parents every month. Pretty nice guy really.”

Minho nodded slowly, warming up slightly to the idea, “Ok… Ok… Who are the students? Do I know them?”

“You might know one.” Jisung answered, “His name is Yangyang. He’s a german chinese exchange student which is like...funnier than it probably should be because it’s such a random mix but-”

“Sungie.” Chan interrupted gently.

“Sorry sorry I didn’t mean to. Anyways, Yangyang is in my grade, he was new here this year. The other is a kid named Mashiho, he’s in Innie’s grade, he’s starting after this quarter is over. He’s from Japan.”

Minho reached across the table and took Jisung’s trembling hand in his own, “How much sleep have you gotten love?”

“Not much honestly.” Jisung replied, shoulders falling slightly in defeat, “But I’m fine, really. I’m actually kind of excited, they seem like really cool guys and the apartment is super nice.”

Minho pursed his lips, concern coursing through him. There were a thousand more questions that Minho wanted, _needed_ , to ask. But they could wait.

“What about Jeonginnie? Have you guys heard from him?”

Chan sighed and looked away from them, watching the street as he replied. “We heard from Seungmin that he was ok and that Hyunjin was gonna spend the night with him. For now we should let him reach out to us, he will eventually.”

Jisung nodded resolutely, “Our ‘No Adults’ group chat is planning a sleepover so hopefully he’ll open up to us then. Those sleepovers get _really_ deep. There are dreams of Hyunjin’s I would’ve been happy to not know of.”

“I’m sorry your what group chat?” Minho asked with furrowed eyebrows, confusion muddling his still tired brain.

“Our ‘No Adults’ group chat.” Jisung stated with a straight face, “Y’know? Cause adults are icky.”

“Why aren’t I in this group chat?”

Jisung huffed out a breath, looking at Chan with a smug smile, gesturing towards Minho with his thumb, “This guy, can you believe him?”

Chan chuckled at the other’s antics and pushed his face away. “It’s the millenium’s group chat that they kicked us out of last year because they claimed we were bringing down their ‘cool factor’. Sorry bud, you’re too old to be in it.”

“It’s basically all the cool people in our friend group, y’know the real fun ones.” Jisung said with a dismissive hand, tossing another bit of his scone into his mouth, trying and failing to act coy.

Minho smirked, “If it’s the cool ones then why are you in it, Sung?”

Jisung spluttered, nearly knocking his coffee over as his hands flailed, “I can’t believe...How dare you good sir I- the audacity you hold!”

“He has a point, Sungie.” Chan chimed in.

Jisung nodded sagely, “He has a point. They’ve kicked me out of it several times then added me back in once they realized Felix would get lonely.”

“Case in point.” Minho sipped idly on his latte, staring Jisung down.

The younger, predictably, took the bait.

“Ok smart ass I-”

“Calm, Sung, he’s just riling you up.” Chan put a placating hand on the small of Jisung’s back, “Anyway we have other things to discuss.”

Minho sensed the shift in atmosphere and set his drink down, straightening up and giving Chan all of his attention. Well, almost all of it. A fraction was set aside to internally scream about the fact that Jisung was still holding his hand as if it was the most regular thing in the world. Maybe it was. Minho had never had such close friends, maybe this was what he was missing out on all that time.

“We’re going to look at the apartment this afternoon, right after school, we want you to come along.”

Minho looked from Chan to Jisung in mild surprise. That was not what he expected. “Really? Why me?”

“Well…” Minho tried not to overthink the fact that Jisung’s face was adorably red right now. It meant nothing. Jisung cleared his throat awkwardly and tried again, “Well it’s just, I don’t know, I thought you - but maybe I was wrong - but you seemed so, I don’t know, you don’t have to.”

“Eloquent.” Chan said, earning himself a indignant hit on the arm from Jisung. “What he means is he would feel better if you were there with him.”

Minho peered at Jisung, a fond smile spreading across his face, “Jisungie?”

“I,” Jisung scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, “I _suppose_ he’s right.”

“Right about what exactly?” Minho feigned confusion, enjoying the younger’s embarrassment more than warranted. But it was too cute not to. His red cheeks, his scrunched up nose, his annoyed glare and nervous fiddling.

Jisung muttered something indistinguishable, staring holes into the ground. Minho leaned forward with a coy grin, “What was that love, I couldn’t quite hear you.”

“I _said_ ,” Jisung said loudly, pursing his lips when he realized his volume and taking it down a few notches, “I said that I would like you to come because it would make me feel more comfortable and safe you little dipshit!”

Minho cooed, reaching forward to pinch his cheeks that were sticking out slightly because of his pout, “Well why didn’t you just say so kid! I’m more than happy to join.”

Jisung brightened up, “Really? You’ll come with us?”

“Of course I will, thanks for inviting me along.”

“Took us forever but we eventually got there, good job guys, glad to see you can be decently civil when you feel like it.” Exasperation heavily laced Chan’s voice as the eldest set his tea down.

“Only when we feel like it.” Jisung cheekily replied.

“Figures.”

  


It was almost shocking to be in school again, where most classmates were oblivious to the hardships going on. Nobody spared them a second glance, no one had words of advice, because nobody knew. And if they did know, they probably wouldn’t care enough to seek out the struggling sophomore.

Though they pretended not to be, the friend group was affected deeply by the happenings of the weekend, both concerning Jisung and Jeongin. Chan attempted to keep the atmosphere light and fun, but his efforts didn’t have quite the effects he was aiming for. Jeongin had glued himself to Jisung’s side right before Art Division and didn’t stray far after that, skipping his last three classes in favor of staying with the older.

Seungmin was also in a particularly sour mood. Minho had bonded with Seungmin when he had first moved to the city because of their shared distaste of the group tutoring sessions they attended. The witty freshman, at the time, had instantly attracted Minho to him because of his borderline cynical outlook on life. And his muttered _scathing_ comments about their tutor that had Minho biting his cheek to refrain from laughing.

They had begun spending more time together but Minho had never felt comfortable with joining Seungmin when he invited him along with group activities. However, Minho liked to think that he had a good reading on the younger at this point and could zero in on a few of his habits that acted up when he was having a bad day.

No eating, clenched jaw, swollen and red lower lip from chewing at it too frequently. Tell tale signs that the sophomore was processing everything in his own way.

And Minho felt useless. So so useless. These people had integrated him effortlessly into their already established and comfortable friend group, not thinking twice about inviting him along, joking around with him, looking out for him when he needed it. But here they were, all clearly suffering, and Minho couldn’t do shit for them.

Chan’s hand snuck into his own and Minho startled slightly, looking to the older in confusion. Chan leaned forward until his breath whispered across Minho’s ear, “They’re gonna be ok, they’ve all been through shit but we always get through it. Together.”

Minho gulped and nodded just slightly. Apparently his thought process was pretty transparent.

Lunch ended in the same stiff atmosphere that it started in.

  


Minho and Chan met Jisung at the Art Division classroom, sharing knowing looks when they spotted Jeongin standing beside Jisung, having taken a slightly protective stance in front of the sophomore.

“Innie are you joining us?” Chan asked lightly, hugging the boy in question tightly.

“If it’s ok then yeah I wanna join.” Jeongin said, returning the hug before promptly moving to ‘shield’ Jisung once again.

Jisung sighed loudly, “Hyungs he’s been like this all day, please help me. I can’t walk even 5 steps without him.”

“Awe don’t lie Sung,” Chan said, ruffling the younger’s hair pleasantly and taking the opportunity to lace their hands together, “You love that he’s gone all soft for you.”

Jisung didn’t even try to deny it, just smiling to himself. Jeongin looked stupidly proud at the lack of resistance from the other.

Minho cocked his head and gestured down the hall, “Ready? Or are we waiting for another surprise addition to the group.”

“Nah just us,” Jisung replied, tugging Chan and Jeongin down the hall towards the entrance, “C’mon hyung you’re gonna hold us back.”

They took the bus to the city center and walked a few blocks from there. Minho didn’t like the city center too much, at night the wind swept trash into the air and the sidewalks became damp. During the day, the sun filtered between buildings to illuminate the streets and gave the city a heartbeat beneath his feet. But at night, it morphed into something else entirely for Minho.

“Awe,” Jisung’s loud coo caught Minho’s attention and he turned around to check what had enraptured the other. Jisung was crouched on the sidewalk peering at something with crinkled eyes and a wide smile. “Hi lil guy!”

Jeongin, who was standing beside Jisung with his hand still firmly laced with the other and staring at Minho and Chan with the most exasperated expression the freshman had ever had.

“He’s fawning after a plant. A fucking plant growing out of the sidewalk.”

Minho and Chan shared a look, Chan puffing his cheeks to contain his chuckle while Minho attempted to hide his smile behind his hand.

“He’s gone through so much Jeongin! Look at the lil guy, making himself all comfy in such a strange place.” Jisung continued, petting the stem with a single finger, being impossibly gentle considering it was a weed.

But his words is what clued the other three in as to why he felt so deeply for the random plant. Either unconsciously or not, Jisung understood making a home out of an unfortunate place. The kid really was poetic in every thought he had.

Minho quietly squatted down beside the younger and looked closer at the plant, “You gonna name him?”

“Nah, I’ll just get attached if I do that,” Jisung continued to pet the plant, adjusting himself slightly so he was leaning some of his weight on Minho. Jeongin had left Jisung’s side to join Chan, the pair watching them from a few feet away.

Minho hesitantly reached his hand forward, waiting for permission to also pat the small plant. Jisung sent him a smile and moved his hand to let Minho touch it. “He really is cute. Lil cutie baby. Oh god you just got me emotionally attached to a plant in like, 5 seconds, how did you do that.”

Jisung laughed, tossing his head back and nearly losing his balance if Minho hadn’t stabled him in time, “One of my many charms, hyung.”

Minho rolled his eyes but didn’t bother to argue him, instead continuing to pet the stupidly cute weed.

“I name him Ove.”

Minho closed his eyes to hold back a groan at the sudden declaration, “Ove?”

Jisung nodded, pulling his lips in and puffing his cheeks slightly, “Yeah. Ove suits him, don’t you think?”

“Sure Sungie, Ove van Ovalton should be his full name.”

“I love it!”

Minho let out a small giggle, the happiness radiating off of Jisung was almost palpable, a stark contrast to the quiet, withdrawn kid he had been only earlier today. He knew he was staring but he honestly couldn’t look away. Jisung’s hoodie hand bunched up beneath his neck, his glasses were hanging on to the tip of his nose, his cheeks flushed both by the chilly wind and the unrestrained laughter.

Minho was properly whipped.

And by the look Chan was giving him, Chan knew as well.

“C’mon Sung, we’re gonna be late if we don’t hurry.” Chan called to them, reluctance clear in his voice to pull Jisung away from his small moment of happiness.

But Jisung didn’t seem too sad, blowing the plant one last kiss before skipping away, taking Minho’s hand in his own.

They stayed side by side the rest of the walk, trailing behind Chan and Jeongin who were talking about Jeongin’s busy schedule for the next school year, nearly giving Chan a heart attack at the amount of work the younger was piling on. They came up to a corner store, bordering an empty bakery and a cheap laundromat. Between the bakery and the store was a narrow door with a buzzer.

Chan stepped up and pressed firmly, ignoring Jisung’s slightly panicked, “Wait!”

A voice came from the box after a few seconds of silence sounding fuzzy and distorted, “Hey is this Jisung?”

“Uh yeah!” Jisung called out, voice weak, his grip tightening on Minho’s hand.

A pause, then, “Ok I’ll buzz you up.”

There was a loud beep before the lock clicked for the door. Chan cast them a quick look before pushing it open, letting them all shuffle in before shutting it behind them. They all stood, watching Chan to allow the oldest to lead them.

They walked up 2 stories of stairs before reaching the top of the building, wandering down the hall to the final apartment. The hall was well lit with soft, fluorescent lights, the ground a dark wood.

Chan forced Jisung forward, and by association Minho, guiding his free up to knock on the door. There was the sound of brief shuffling before the door swung open. A tall kid, no older than Minho, was standing on the other side beaming.

“Hello Jisung and associates! C’mon in. My name’s Yangyang, I’ll be your guide today.”

 

They slipped their shoes off at the door and stepped fully into the apartment. Yangyang stood to the side, still smiling broadly at them.

“It’s not huge but me and Mashiho get along so far. He’s at the market getting groceries right now. Mashiho is, I don’t know if I was clear about that.” Yangyang rambled happily, herding them further into the living room and gesturing vaguely around, “Living room where we have game night, kitchen where Mashi cooks and I get scolded for eating the ingredients behind his back. What else…”

“How long have you guys been living together?” Jisung asked, releasing Minho’s hand to wander around a little, looking out the wide windows at the view. The late afternoon sun shone through, casting long shadows but illuminating the space in a comforting way.

“Since the beginning of the school year. Mashiho has been doing independent study with another kid named Yoshinori who used to live here but he moved back to Japan a month ago for family reasons so now it’s just the two of us.”

Jisung nodded, moving away from the window to face Yangyang head on, “Sorry, we didn’t introduce ourselves. I’m Jisung, hopefully your new room mate, if you’ll have me.”

Yangyang shook his head, “I know who you are silly, we had science together until I switched to a different block.” He turned to the rest of them with a sheepish smile, “I’m not certain about the rest of you though…”

“I’m Chan, a senior.” Chan reached out a shook Yangyang’s hand.

“I’m Jeongin, freshman.”

“Minho, junior.”

Jeongin and Minho both waved to the sophomore, who waved back brightly, “Nice to meet you all! Hope you approve of Jisung’s new flatmates, cause I’m guessing that’s why you’re here.”

Chan pursed his lips and nodded, “Yeah pretty much. We just wanna watch out for him.”

Yangyang bit his lip and cast his eyes downwards, “Trust me, I understand that better than most would. I have the _most_ overprotective friends, I swear.”

“Kun right?” Minho piped up, suddenly being struck with familiarity. Of course he knew Yangyang, he was part of a huge group of friends that was ever growing. Minho used to sit with Mark Lee and a few of his friends during lunch, one of them being Yangyang on the occasion that he wasn’t messing around with Donghyuck and Renjun. “I used to sit with a few of your friends at lunch.”

“Oh my god yeah I remember you! Jungwoo hyung always really liked you, said you were enigmatic, whatever that means.”

Jisung looked between the two and Minho was hit with a sense of Deja Vu, thinking back to not even three weeks prior when he first sat at lunch with them.

“You two know each other?”

“I used to sit with Mark Lee and Na Jaemin during lunch in the music room, Sungie, Yangyang would join us on occasion.”

“Oh. Small world.” There was something in Jisung’s tone that didn’t sit well with Minho.

Chan seemed to sense the shift of mood and hurried to ask about the bedrooms and laundry situation.

Minho listened attentively as Yangyang explained that Jisung would be rooming with the still at-large Mashiho because they were splitting their portion of the rent while Yangyang got his own room.

Jisung began beaming at that, “I get a room mate?”

“Well...Yeah?” Yangyang seemed confused, obviously not have expecting that reaction. “If you want? I guess we could switch but your half of the-”

“I get someone who has no choice but to listen to me and can cuddle with me and can play games with me?”

Yangyang began chuckling, finally catching on to Jisung’s excitement, “Yeah, Mashiho is great with all of that, you’ll love him.”

Jisung bounced to Minho’s side and grabbed to his arm, “D’you hear that! I get a _room mate_!”

“I heard Sungie, you’re gonna drive the kid crazy.”

“I can’t wait!” Jisung fist pumped, all of his previous reservations leaving him as he skipped back to Yangyang’s side and took that taller’s hand in his own, insisting on being shown the bedrooms.

Chan and Jeongin let the excited boy go, sharing fond smiles before rounding on Minho with matching serious expressions. Minho’s heart dropped.

“What. What’s wrong. What’d I do?”

Jeongin narrowed his eyes, “Not what you already did, but what you’re _gonna_ do hyung. If I should even call you that.”

“I… I’m confused?” Minho’s voice cracked slightly at the end as his worry began to cloud his mind.

Chan huffed out a breath and placed a calming hand on Jeongin’s shoulder, “Stand down kid, he hasn’t done anything wrong and he’s our friend to.”

“I mean I _guess_.”

Minho scoffed, “What the hell Innie.”

“He’s just being protective,” Chan elaborated, “We both are. Minho, it’s _painfully_ clear that you have get a ‘cuteness’ boner everytime Sung so much as smiles. You practically melt if he looks your way. It’d be funny if it weren’t so hard to watch.”

Minho buried his face in his hands, cheeks turning hot at the conversation, “ _Cuteness_ boner, Chan-hyung oh my god why would you… God you couldn’t have put it any other way, you’re supposed to be a lyricist.”

“It’s what it is!” Chan defended with a wave of his hands, “When the cuteness just _gets_ to you, y’know?”

Minho let out a helpless noise, desperately pressing his hands to his temples to _squeeze_ the image of that from his mind.

Chan seemed to, thankfully, realize how wrong his sentence sounded and rushed to correct himself, “Not like a literal boner or anything, god get your head out of the gutter, I just mean that Jisung has that effect on you, ok?”

Minho nearly cried from the pure ridiculousness of the conversation, willing the floor to open up and swallow him down to the pits of hell where he was meant to be.

It didn’t happen, hell decided to let Minho suffer some more.

“Look, Minho-ssi-”

“ _Really_ , Jeongin, just call me hyung.”

“-we like you, we really do. You’re funny, you’re nice, you’re really weird but like in a good way that matches our weirdness so it works. Where was I going with this?” Jeongin looked to Chan for help, “I didn’t mean to start complimenting him, it just sorta happened.”

Chan patted his shoulder in consolation, “He has that unfortunate effect on people. My theory is it’s his eyes.”

“I think it’s more his nose. Perfect fucking nose.” Jeongin shook his head angrily.

Minho didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or a threat, either way he took a nervous step back, just in case.

“This is completely beside my point, look at what you did hyung.” Jeongin’s voice was laced with frustration and Minho’s compulsory _hyung_ response kicked in.

He stepped forward into Jeongin’s space and placed the back of his hand to the younger’s cheeks, “I’m not gonna hurt him, Innie, I would never dream of hurting him. I promise you I will do everything in my power to keep him safe and happy.”

“If you ever work up the nerve to ask him out.” Chan pointed out uselessly. Yes, Minho knew he was pathetic for not asking Jisung out yet. Was that gonna suddenly inspire him to do so? Absolutely the fuck not.

“Hyung it’s not entirely like that. Yes I have a raging crush on him that I’m kinda sure is past the whole like phase and on to something possibly deeper, but like, that doesn’t mean anything.” Minho faced Chan, retracting his hand from Jeongin but staying close to the younger, hoping his presence would be enough to calm him.

“Min…”

“Not yet, you guys,” Minho said with finality, “It’s not the right time. He’s too vulnerable, stressed out, I couldn’t take advantage of him like that.”

Chan let out a slow breath but nodded his head, “That’s sweet of you, Minho, I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

Minho nodded once to acknowledge the older’s words before turning to Jeongin once again, “You ok kid? Did my dashing good looks stun you too much.”

“I hate you.”

“Awe, that’s just the jealousy talking. It’s ok, not everyone is as blessed as me and you just gotta accept it.”

“You’re seriously the worst. I can’t stand you.”

Despite the teasing, Jeongin’s shoulders had relaxed and his bright smile had returned to his face, crinkling his eyes and rivaling the brilliance of the sun.

Jisung and Yangyang returned to the room, talking excitedly about pancake recipes while both gesturing wildly with their hands. At that moment, the front door opened, revealing a small boy practically swimming in a hoodie and struggling to carry four bags of groceries.

“Yang-hyung please help!” Came the desperate cry from the kid as he stumbled a bit while trying to kick off his shoes.

Yangyang rushed to his side, grabbing three of the bags easily from the other and carrying them into the kitchen.

“Mashiho, this is Jisung and his friends. Jisung that’s Mashiho, your other new room mate.” Yangyang called, followed by a loud crash and a despairing wail. “My poptarts!”

Mashiho rolled his eyes at the older’s antics but smiled shyly at the group in the living room, waving a sweater covered hand to them, “I’m Mashiho, from Japan if Yangyang didn’t tell you. It’s nice to meet all of you.”

“I’m Jisung! Your possible new room mate, it’s so nice to meet you.” Jisung said with a responding and equally as shy wave.

Mashiho’s smile widened slightly, “Cute. You’re a sophomore right? Same grade and Yangyang?”

Jisung nodded, “What about you? You’re doing independent study right?”

“I was,” Mashiho responded, finally getting his slippers on and stepping into the living room fully, “But I’m going to be starting at your school in a few weeks, it got too lonely on independent study.”

“I’m finally taller than someone,” Jisung’s voice was barely above a whisper and he was grinning as he said it before blanching and slapping a hand over his mouth, “Oh god I’m so so sorry, I mean it’s true but like, I totally should not have said that.”

Mashiho waved a hand lazily, “Nah don’t sweat it, I don’t say I’m short I just call myself pocket sized. Plus you’re like, a centimeter taller than me so I could still kick your ass if I needed to.”

“Duly noted.”

Mashiho took a quick liking to Jisung as the afternoon progressed. Though slightly shy, Mashiho was a good conversationalist and seemed to enjoy listening to Jisung’s scattered ramblings. They made a cute pair, both small sunshines who were quick to team up against Yangyang when the Chinese boy teased them. Minho watched in near fascination as Jisung melted into the environment, fitting himself right in as if he had known them for years. Envy raced through Minho, remembering the months of he himself feeling lost, having friends but no _friends_.

Jisung would never experience that, which Minho was so grateful for.

  


They left right before dinner as the natural sunlight faded away and was replaced with soft fluorescents. Yangyang and Mashiho saw them out to the street, planning with Chan and Jisung about signing the lease with Changbin the following day. If everything went smoothly, Jisung could be moving in by Friday.

Despite all of the excitement, the sleep deprivation caught up to Jisung who slumped against Minho’s side on the bus halfway to Chan’s house. Minho adjusted his head slightly to at least lessen the ache he would get, settling down with his arm slung around the back of the younger’s chair and watching the buildings go by. He caught Chan’s fond smile, who was sitting on the other side of Jisung and Jeongin, the latter of which was tucked beneath his arm. Jeongin, though not asleep, was near sleep after coming down from his anxiety-ridden adrenaline high.

They parted from Jeongin at Chan’s stop, the younger having another 2 until his own house.

Changbin met up with them at the bus stop, instantly abducting Jisung and beginning a game with him that consisted of only walking on the cracks.

“Wasn’t there an old rhyme that told you specifically _not_ to step on the cracks or you’ll break your mother’s back?” Minho pointed out, albeit uselessly.

Jisung lept from one crack to another with a giggle. Changbin’s tongue poked from the side of his mouth as be balanced on one foot, trying to find somewhere to step.

“Well fuck our mothers, hyung, so what if they break their backs.” Changbin called, wobbling as he stepped on to the next crack, nearly toppling over when Chan pushed playfully at his shoulder, “Hey! Penalty! Foul play! I always knew Jisung was you favorite.”

Jisung stopped and turned at the sound of his name, “Its my cheeks, Changbin-hyung, they can charm even the coldest of hearts, just ask Minho.”

Jisung sent a cheeky wink at that, causing Minho to splutter slightly, before shooting back, “Bad example Ji, I just prove your point wrong.”

Changbin cackled wildly at that while Jisung screwed his face up, whining lightly.

“I could never choose favorites between you two,” Chan finally replied, “Anyway Woojin has my heart.”

“Yeah you’re not exactly discreet. We all knew.”

“Shut up Binnie.” Chan rolled his eyes grumpily, crossing his arms with an uncharacteristic pout. Minho could safely say he had never seen Chan act so childish, not in his mature personality. It was kinda cute. “Ope Jisung hold still.”

Jisung stopped mid step, looking over his shoulder with wide eyes, “Hyung?”

“Don’t worry, just a bee, I’ll get it off.” Chan reassured the younger, stepping forward and bringing his hand up to swipe the insect off.

Ahead of them, Changbin grimaced, “I’m not a fan of bees.”

“Wait!”

Chan halted at Jisung’s urgent tone, retracting his hand immediately, “Jisu-”

“He picked me hyung… its ok, he just mistook me for a flower. We’ll leave him until we find a real flower to give to him.” Jisung said, peering over his shoulder at the bee that clung to the back of his sweater, “He just mistook me for a flower.”

Chan smiled fondly at Jisung, running his hand through his quickly fading purple hair and leaving it to rest against the back of his head, “That’s a nice thought Sungie, we should make it into a song.”

“You think?”

“Sure. The simple things in life, would be a nice change from our usually so heavy topics.”

“Speaking of! I think I have a good idea for a song, I’m almost done with the lyrics.” Jisung hopped in place a few times, lighting up with passion as he began talking about music.

Minho hopped into the conversation, “What about?”

“Awkward silence!” Jisung stated proudly. Nobody responded. Jisung puffed his cheeks out and pushed his specs up his nose, “My point is proven.”

Changbin chuckled and slung an arm around the younger, “You know the exact formula to create awkward silence. It’s like your secret power or something.”

“Some say it’s a gift, others say a curse.” Jisung responded darkly, “Even I don’t know my full potential. I could render entire crowds, _no_ ,  nations silent because of my jokes.”

“Not something to boast about Sung.” Chan quipped, pulling at Jisung’s sweater sleeve to get him to continue to walk.

The sun had nearly set at that point, the sky a deep purple with the faint light of stars beginning to shine. Around them, street lights flickered to life, casting elongated shadows on to the street. Minho picked up his pace, suddenly unsettled at his surroundings. Changbin seemed to share his thoughts as the fellow junior nearly tripped in his haste to hurry their journey along. They made a quick stop by the flower pots in front of Chan’s porch, gently pushing the bee off of Jisung’s sweater and on to a leaf.

Minho joined the producers for dinner at Chan’s, his mother being as welcoming as always and practically smothering Minho, Jisung, and Changbin in affection.

They spent some time in Chan’s room, Minho and Chan talking about university exams while Changbin and Jisung kept each other entertained.

Minho often found himself thinking about Jisung and Chan’s relationship, the big brother little brother roles that they easily fell into.

However, Minho never, until this point, really observed Jisung and Changbin’s relationship. The pair were a strange combination; Changbin with his dark exterior that warded off even the bravest of souls and yet soft interior that oozed warmth and comfort and Jisung with his heart on his sleeve and love ready to be given should someone only ask while also bottling up his troubles, his emotions, keeping them hidden from even the keenest of eyes.

What a strange juxtaposition the two were.

And yet, with each other, they just worked. Though their humor differed, they were both giant ass dorks who found so much joy in small things that others would pass over. Yes Changbin was Jisung’s hyung, but in times like these, light with no worries and around people they were comfortable with, the age difference was disregarded.

“Hyung…” Minho started hesitantly, eyes trained on Changbin and Jisung who were sitting cross legged on the floor playing a rhyming game that had gotten increasingly competitive as time went by.

Chan looked up from where he had been texting Woojin.

“Hyung.” Minho repeated, voice weak. He didn’t know where the sudden onslaught of emotions were coming from, he just knew they were _there_ and _noticeable_ and teetering on the edge of something dangerous.

And maybe it was the same, inexplicable ‘hyung’ response that Minho had felt earlier with Jeongin, or maybe something entirely different that was wholly special to Chan, but whatever it was the older seemed to understand immediately. He squeezed himself closer to Minho on the bed, taking the younger’s hand in his own and fixed him with a concerned gaze.

“Hyung how do you do it? How do you stay strong for them?” Minho asked helplessly.

And then it clicked.

Watching the pair on the ground, in their own world, in their own bubble, experiencing their own happiness. Minho couldn’t protect them, shield them, he was useless to hide them from the world they lived in. All of them. Chan tried so hard, he was so patient, so understanding, but not even he could preserve their hearts from hurting.

Just thinking that made Minho begin to tremble.

“I don’t, Min, that’s why they trust me. They’ve seen my lows, they know the world gets the best of everyone.” Chan murmured quietly, breath tickling Minho’s ear, “But seeing me hurt shows them it’s ok, everyone hurts, everyone falls down, you just gotta find the people who will make the world a little less dark, seem a little less cruel. I found that in them.”

“I think I have too.” Minho admitted quietly.

“Wah that doesn’t rhyme!” Jisung’s shout startled both Chan and Minho, who returned their attention to the two on the ground.

“Yes it does! They have the same ending.” Changbin argued, pulling his hands away from where they were resting on his knees, “That’s literally how you rhyme.”

Jisung rolled his eyes at the older and reached forward, pulling his hands back to his knees. Somewhere along the way, the game had become a slapping one, turning both of their hands bright red.

“I know what rhyming is, hyung, I’m a _lyricist_. Menstrual does not rhyme with crystal.”

Beside him, Chan choked in his surprise, grip tightening on Minho’s hand as he worked to suppress his bubbling laughter, “ _Guys what!”_

“They both end in ‘-al’ Ji! What more do you want!”

“No, one ends in ‘-ual’ like _ooaaaallll_ ,” Jisung drew out his pronunciation, leaning forward as he did so, “and the other ends in ‘-tal’ like taaaaalllll.”

“Chan-hyung who’s right!” Changbin called, both whipping their heads to stare down the older.

Minho bit his bottom lip to keep back the grin that was growing on his face. From Chan’s loud exhale, Minho guessed this happened pretty often.

“Jisungie is, sorry Bin.”

“You all hate me!” Changbin declared with a frown, standing to grab his jacket from Chan’s crowded desk, “I see my presence is no longer appreciated, good day sirs.”

With a prim nod, Changbin left the room, Jisung giggling in delight as he raced after the older. Going off of the loud “oomph” that echoed into the room, Jisung had jumped on to Changbin’s back. Their laughter bounced off of the walls as they moved further into the house.

Chan turned fully to Minho, gently wiping the leftover tears.

“He’s gonna be ok, Minho, we’ll make sure of it.”

Minho nodded somewhat stiffly, “He doesn’t need to know this happened.”

Chan raised an eyebrow but nodded nonetheless, “If that’s what you want.”

Before Minho could offer a feeble and half assed explanation, Jisung returned, looking slightly crestfallen. He fell on to the bed at Chan and Minho’s feet with a huff, “I miss Binnie-hyung.”

“He literally just left,” Minho pointed out, sticking a foot out to kick at the younger, chuckling when he weakly batted it away.

“Stop that, so disrespectful, _god_ ,” Jisung grumbled, giving up at getting Minho to leave him alone and instead letting the older do as he pleased, “And so what, he left, he’s not here anymore, therefore I’m allowed to miss him. Simple.”

“C’mon Sung, time to get ready for bed. Min do you wanna stay the night?” Chan asked, climbing over Jisung and standing to stretch, looking at Minho expectantly.

Minho thought for a second, “No, I should head home, I wanna practice my routine a couple of times.”

“If you’re sure. We’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

Minho nodded and scrambled off of the bed, purposely bumping Jisung’s shoulder with his knee, knocking the younger off balance and sending him flailing to the floor.

“Oops, sorry Jiji, didn’t mean to.” Minho apologized with a flash of a smile. Like the stupid angel he is, Jisung beamed back, pushing himself from the ground.

“No worries hyung. See ya tomorrow, text me so I know you got home safe.” Jisung said, pulling Minho into a hug. His voice was soft and wispy beside his ear, “Thank you for today.”

Minho turned his head minimally to press a light kiss to the crown of the other’s head, “Of course sunshine, now get some rest. No staying up until dawn, either of you ok.”

Minho stepped back turning to leave on that note.

“Oooh so scary.” Jisung teased.

Minho whipped back around and took a threatening step towards the younger who shrieked and threw himself behind Chan. Chan, for what it was worth, stepped to the side to expose the younger once again, waving goodbye to Minho as he did so.

Minho left with a smile on his face.

  


**Impulse Control**

 

_11:02 pm_

 

Home safe

  


**Mochi**

 

_11:02 pm_

 

See ya tomorrow hyung :)

  


Tuesday was significantly brighter, happier than the day before. Everybody seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief, Jisung was safe, Jeongin was healthier, they could let their guard down a little.

Art Division was a mess. With less than two weeks until their semester end showcase, the students were scrambling to pull together their projects, striving for perfection to ensure their spot in the class.

“Schedules everyone, schedules!” Their teacher called to them, “Choir, band and orchestra have 30 minute performances starting at 5, the dance team has a set prepared as does theatre. Our exhibition portion officially opens at 7, dance will be performing first, followed by Jacob and whichever of his coalition joins him, and our producing group 3racha will end the performing portion. Artwork will be on display in the gallery all the while. Attendance is mandatory.”

The same lecture he had emailed them the night before and would continue to email until next Wednesday, when all final projects were due for approval.

He dismissed them with a wave of his hand, leaving the students to panic about their progress, or lack thereof.

The dance group had monopolized the front of the classroom, desks haphazardly pushed aside to make room for their complete choreography. 3racha had, miraculously, finished all of their tracks for the dance group, allowing them to practice in full as many times as they pleased. Which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be _a lot_.

“From the top everyone, Yugyeom start the music again.” Minho held back a groan as Hoshi directed them. He slid back into place, bracing his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. The beginning notes rang out and he straightened once again, schooling his expression and focusing on the beat, the movement. He was in his element.

It was near perfect, but not quite there just yet. He needed more practice, he needed more discipline, he needed more focus.

With a sigh, Minho slid down the classroom wall, sipping idly on his water while watching Hoshi push the desks back into place. The senior was the only one of them who wasn’t currently hunched over in exhaustion.

They were so close.

“Hyung.” Shoes appeared in front of him and Minho looked up, not surprised to see Jisung peering down at him with concern. “Hyung you’ve been sipping on an empty water bottle for a minute now.”

Minho looked to his glass water bottle in confusion, eyebrows raising when he noticed that yes, his water bottle was indeed completely empty. “It’s what the cool kids are doing now Jisung, God get with it.”

Jisung rolled his eyes and squatted down so they were eye to eye, holding out his own water bottle to Minho, “Not that you would know hyung. Have mine, you need it more than I do.”

Minho accepted it with a grateful smile. The boy in front of him stood once again, turning to return to Chan and Changbin only after he saw Minho take a large gulp of the water.

Minho had a lot of work to do.

  


He skipped lunch in favor of staying in the classroom practicing. 3racha and Hoshi sent him worried looks when he waved them off, but none of them intervened, probably understanding his struggle all too well.

He locked the door behind Yeosang, pulling the shade down over the small window on the door in case anyone got a bit too curious.

Time seemed to race by. Minho was just ending the group dance for the upteenth time when the bell rang, signalling 5 minutes until class. With a dejected sigh, Minho stopped the music, doing a quick cool down that wouldn’t do shit to help acheness in a couple of hours. There was a pounding on the door, followed by Seungmin shouting at him to hurry his ass up.

Minho still had so much work to do.

  


After school, Minho found himself back in the Art Division class with the dance group, Kevin and Jacob, Woojin, and Jeongin. Kevin was scrutinizing his 10 foot canvas that took up nearly an entire wall. Jacob was sitting on the floor beside him, absently strumming his guitar while offering tips every now and then. Woojin and Jeongin had set up camp in 3racha’s recording booth, working Jeongin through his song for the choir auditions.

Hoshi was relentless in drilling them through the dance. The song barely ended before he was starting it again, demanding another run through, wanting nothing less than perfection each time.

Sometime after the sunset, 3racha came bustling in in their usual chaotic fashion. They handed out food and drinks to everyone and Chan practically forced the tired students to sit on the floor, making sure they all took some kind of break. Jisung, unsurprisingly, made himself comfortable against Minho’s side, quietly telling him about signing the documents with the landlord, finalizing his new home. Move-day would be on Friday after school, their friend group, Yangyang and Mashiho planning on getting Jisung decorations and furniture for his room. Minho was too tired to offer a real response, opting to squeeze his shoulder in a show of support instead.

Hours passed with the unlikely group of students working away. They stayed out of each other’s ways, understanding the stress that each group was under and not bothering to interfere.

Near 9 at night, Kevin began crying into Jacob’s shoulder, the usually bright boy breaking down after hours upon hours of tracing and shading, a task that could drive even the most practiced of artists to breakdown. Jacob was quick to set aside his guitar and usher the younger out of the room. Neither of them returned for their forgotten backpacks.

Almost two hours later Woojin guided a sleepy Jeongin from the recording booth, exchanging murmured words with Chan before nodding and gently prying Jisung up. The younger, strangely enough, put up very little fight. He glared at Chan before heaving a sigh and closing his laptop, hugging both Chan and Changbin as he trailed behind Woojin and Jeongin through the door. Before it swung close completely, he saluted Minho with a cheeky grin.

It was the first time Minho smiled in hours.

  


He didn’t remember Chan and Changbin leaving. Or Yugyeom accompanying Lip out. He could vaguely recall Wonwoo coming in and dragging Hoshi out by his ear, threatening to do the same to Minho if the younger didn’t leave immediately. He promised he would only do one more run through.

It was a lie.

Time was slow and fast at the same time. A strange weightlessness came over the Art Division classroom, disconnecting Minho from reality, from time.

Purple tinted his vision, dying the lights and making everything seem hazy. Purple was everywhere, consuming him, swimming his vision, purple running down the drain, through his fingers, _from his grasp_.

There was no time to stop. The showcase was too important to not throw every ounce of effort and work into.

Minho danced until his feet were numb but pounding with pain. Until the room was filled with blaring music that fell on deaf ears. He practiced until he absolutely couldn’t anymore, and then practiced some more.

“Hyung you need to stop.”

Jisung.

Of course it was Jisung.

The music shut off abruptly and Minho whirled around, adrenaline fueled anger coursing through him. It dissipated slightly at the sight of the ruffled, barely awake sophomore who was _swamped_ in a sweater. Tension slowly left Minho’s shoulder as his protective streak kicked into high gear.

“Jisung what the fuck are you doing here? It’s nearly 4, you should be sleeping!” Minho’s voiced grew in volume, echoing off of the walls.

The sophomore took an unsure step backwards, fiddling nervously with the hem of his sleeves. “I came to check on you, Wonwoo texted me a while ago saying you-”

“You need to leave. It’s too late for you to be here! Did you come by yourself?” Exhaustion was making his head murky, he knew logically that snapping at Jisung was the last thing he should do right now but he had thrown logic out the window long ago.

“Chan was already asleep, I didn-”

“Irresponsible Jisung! So irresponsible, god did you even _think_ before deciding to go on a stroll halfway across town all alone. What if something had happened to you? Or what if Chan had woken up with you suddenly gone? Do you want to make his life even harder than it already is!”

Minho didn’t mean any of it. He knew he didn’t. But he couldn’t get himself to shut up. Exhaustion and frustration were a dangerous mixture to even the most level headed of people.

Jisung’s face was flushed with both anger and embarrassment, his eyes showing immense amounts of _hurt_ . “I _know_ hyung! I know I’m the biggest fucking burden on this planet ok, you don’t have to remind me of the fact that has been drilled into my head over and over. God, why would you say that, I thought…”

Oh God, Minho did _not_ just make Jisung, beautiful, amazing, talented Jisung cry. Chan would never forgive him. Their friends would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself.

He had just promised Jeongin, with every ounce of conviction that he possessed, that he would never hurt Jisung.

He had just hurt Jisung in the most despicable, unforgivable way.

Jisung fled from the room in a desperate attempt to hide his tears from Minho.

Minho buried his face in his hands, a sob shaking his body. He didn’t know what to do.

  


Everybody was on radio silence the next morning. Following Minho’s outburst, he had trudged home, falling into an uneasy rest, waking up aching and cranky.

He texted all of their friends, desperate for any update on Jisung. Only Changbin responded with a simple “you fucked up big time. Fix this.”

Only Chan was at the production studio in Art Division, Changbin and Jisung apparently holed up inside of the recording booth instead. The eldest didn’t bother to look Minho’s way throughout the class. Guilt and shame weighed heavily on Minho. Chan must be livid with him, Jisung was basically his younger brother, if not his son.

Yugyeom seemed to sense Minho’s inner turmoil as he tucked the younger under his arm, not offering any words of reassurance but being a presence of support at the very least.

It did little to ease Minho’s tension.

The music died down and Hoshi called for the end of practice, finally deeming them perfect. It should have felt victorious, relieving, to have perfected the dance that they had been working on for weeks.

But Minho couldn’t find himself to feel any sort of ease, his mind hyper focused on the fact that this fucking dance had driven him to lose his calm and snap at one of the most important people to him.

If anything, the Minho had developed a deep resentment for the dance.

3racha were out of the class before Minho could even try to talk to them and Minho’s stomach dropped. He was alone again, he was back to being liked by everyone, but not friends with anyone. He was back where he had started.

Seungmin intercepted Minho as he trudged down the hallway to his locker, pulling the junior out of the throng of students.

“I know, Seungmin, I fucking know ok? I fucked up, I hurt him, I lost him I don’t…” Minho shrugged Seungmin’s hand off of his shoulder, refusing to meet the other’s eyes.

Seungmin huffed, “Yeah, hyung, you royally messed up. Chan was practically seething with anger earlier, Changbin too. Felix has been actively holding back tears all day, Hyunjin has been faking a smile, Jeongin is on a warpath for your head, and Woojin is barely holding him back.”

Minho looked up to see Seungmin looking off contemplatively. If there was a breeze and this was a teen movie, a breeze would be blowing through Seungmin’s hair and the setting sun would be reflected in his eyes.

As it was though, they were in a high school hallway discussing the fact that Minho was a total dumbass.

“Jisung…” Seungmin trailed off, clearing his voice before looking Minho straight in the eye, “We lost a lot of progress with him. Before you became friends with us he never asked for help, never told us when he was hurting, always deflecting and faking. You’ve been friends with him for less than 3 weeks and already he’s more open, more accepting to help. But all that was completely ruined with whatever the hell happened last night.”

“I don’t… Seungmin how do I fix this? I can’t lose him, or any of you.” Minho pulled at his hair in agitation. The hallway had almost completely cleared out as the students had eagerly departed for lunch but despite the openness, the walls seemed to be breathing, constricting inwards on all sides. “But I don’t know what to do.”

“You can’t ignore it hyung, I know you, I know how you run the second things turn on you, you never face conflicts you flee from them.” Seungmin shook his head slightly, “I know because I’m the same way. But Jisung doesn’t deserve that, he deserves someone who will be there and support him and _never_ undermine him. And I know you can do that for him. You just need to apologize.”

“Will that be enough?”

“For Jisung? Sure, he’ll forgive you and let his feelings fester and hide how hurt he actually is until the day he dies.” Seungmin snapped, “So if you want that to happen then be my guest, if you don’t then you have to prove it. Prove to him that your words were just words, ok?”

Minho nodded slowly, “Thank you, Seungmin, thank you so much. I’m so sorry for what happened if I could take it all back I would.”

Seungmin placed his hand back on Minho’s shoulder, squeezing lightly, “I know you are hyung, it was a slip of the tongue. I know you, remember? I know that you’re not capable of hurting him consciously. You still have me, ok?”

Minho ducked his head down as a stray tear slid down his cheek. Seungmin might come off as harsh or insensitive, but he was fiercely protective. Where others would be quick to assume, Seungmin pauses and assesses for the fairest solution. Where others hold steadfast and unwavering, Seungmin moves as a tide, assisting those who need help the most.

There was a strange sort of courage in being able to hold one’s tongue and halt one’s beliefs.

“We’re cold hearted bastards aren’t we.” Minho sniffled pathetically.

Seungmin snorted humorlessly, “Bastards. Yeah, I suppose we are. So when we find someone who brings out our warmest colors… we gotta hold on tight ok? Hold on tight, Minho, he’s good for you.”

Before Minho could reply, Seungmin turned around and swiftly made his way down the hallway, disappearing to no doubt join the others on the roof.

Minho had to talk to Jisung.

  


The problem Minho found, was that Jisung didn’t seem to want to talk to him. Or, if on the off chance he did, he was always with one of their friends. Their friends weren’t exactly cold or hurtful, but their disappointment in Minho was palpable and deterred Minho from even the thought of approaching Jisung.

The opportunity finally came at nearly 10 that night. The Art Division classroom had been bustling with activity yet again, 3racha included. Changbin had left shortly after Hoshi’s coffee run, talking intently on the phone with Felix as he rushed out. Chan had dragged himself out at 9:30, repeating multiple times that Jisung had to be back at Chan’s house by 11 if he didn’t want Chan filing a missing persons report. Jisung had huffed and thrown a cheeto at Chan’s face to get him to finally leave.

Jisung worked diligently on his own for around 10 minutes before he set his computer aside and instead started scribbling away in his notebook.

Minho broke away from his group who were cleaning up for the night and approached the producer hesitantly, taking a seat in Changbin’s empty chair and waiting for the younger to engage him or not.

Jisung showed no acknowledgement of Minho until he had filled out the entire page he was writing on. He set the pencil aside and sat up, spinning in his chair to face Minho with a sad smile.

“Jisungie…” Minho’s voice was quiet but regretful. There were so many things he wanted and _needed_ to say, “Jisungie I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok hyung.” Was Jisung’s predictable reply. Jisung was willing to forgive and forget right away, not because he was over it or not hurt anymore, but because he didn’t want to hurt anyone else. It was a self destructive habit that Minho wanted desperately to fix, starting tonight.

“No, Jisung, it’s not okay. What I said to you was not okay. I let my frustration and exhaustion out on you when you were just trying to help me.” Minho took a breath as he felt dozens of emotions bubbling to the surface, threatening to spill over. “You’re not a burden Jisung, not to anyone. You’re in a shitty situation and have been forced to do things that I could never even dream of facing. You’re so brave, so selfless. You care so deeply and it’s beautiful to see you talk about your passions I could watch you talk about music and the sun and your friends for hours. You, Han Jisung, are my favorite, most precious, human being on the planet.”

Jisung had never been scared of making eye contact, of staring directly into another’s eyes. He had confessed to Minho at one of their sleepovers that he got comfort from seeing the life in other’s, seeing eyes glint was a personal connection that could not be replicated anywhere else, no matter how you tried.

True to his beliefs, Jisung’s eye contact was unwavering as he searched Minho for any sign of a lie, for any hint of insincerity. He found none because Minho was telling the truth, the whole complete truth.

“Hyung…” Jisung picked his pencil up blindly and began twirling it between his fingers, not breaking eye contact, “Hyung I forgive you. I’m not gonna say it’s okay because we both know that it isn’t, but I can say definitively that I forgive you”

Minho’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief and he took a couple of seconds to fully comprehend what Jisung was saying. When he did, he let out a small, barely audible laugh, reaching out to grasp Jisung’s free hand. Jisung allowed it, lacing their hands together with a slightly watery giggle.

“Sung believe me, I’m gonna make it up to you, I’m never gonna stop making it up to you, okay?” Minho insisted, “Never Sungie.”

“I believe you hyung, but I also forgive you, okay? You don’t have to prove anything to me, I know that you mean what you say.”

Minho nodded slowly, a breath he didn’t know he was holding slipping between his lips. “The others-”

“Are being protective,” Jisung interrupted gently, “They really genuinely like you, hyung, you’re their friend too. But with everything that’s been happening…”

“They’re quick to defenses.”

“Yeah…”

There was a comfortable silence for a bit, Minho content with watching Jisung’s thumb trace lazy patterns on the back of Minho’s hand.

“Sleep with me tonight?”

Jisung sputtered, rocking backwards in his chair and flailing his legs a bit at Minho’s suggestion, “Hyung _what the fuck!”_

“Not like that,” Minho waved his hands widely, laughter inhibiting his ability to calm the younger down.

“Hyung I know we just got deep with each other and everything but oh my god,” Jisung was shaking his head wildly, cheeks a brilliant shade of pink, “What would Chan think, you taking his favorite son’s virginity? He would _not_ have it.”

“Jisung I didn’t mean it like that!” Minho cried, “Get your head out of the gutter you’re a _baby_.”

“I am not! I’m two years younger than you.”

“Yeah. A baby. Your point?”

Jisung huffed and crossed his arms, “I’m not the one who still watches Moomin.”

Minho narrowed his eyes, “You literally marathoned that with me a couple of days ago you dipshit.”

“So I can sleep at your house tonight?”

Minho rolled his eyes at the younger’s attempt to deflect the topic, “Yes if you want to spend the night at my house I would love that.”

Jisung grinned.

“And the other option is available whenever you’re ready.” Minho added with a suggestive wink, enjoying the way Jisung squeaked and twirled to face away from him, stuttering out a response.

“I am a mere _baby_ hyung how dare you speak to me in such a way-”

No, it wasn’t at all talking to Jisung about his feelings, but it was a start.

  


“I don’t like fearing silence.”

Minho turned to look at Jisung, slightly surprised at the younger’s sudden confession.

They were sitting side by side on the last bus of the night, joined only by the bus driver and a sleeping man with a tattered briefcase at his feet. Jisung had texted both Chan and Changbin a quick recap of what they had missed and Minho had sent Seungmin a thumbs up (which the sophomore had _left on read_ because he was a chaotic shit like that) before they left school for Minho’s house together.

“I don’t like that I constantly need noise. I don’t know if it’s a fear or more of an aversion, but either way I wish it wasn’t like that.”

Jisung was staring straight ahead, but Minho could sense the sincerity in his voice.

“I don’t like that I rely in darkness to open up about my feelings.”

Jisung startled slightly, looking at Minho curiously after the junior spoke up.

Minho continued, “I feel like I can’t be real under fluorescent lights, I feel like there’s someone that everyone wants me to be when they can see me. In the dark, with candles or campfires, I can finally open up and _talk_ to people. And I hate that about me.”

“There’s something about artificial light…” Jisung mused, “that begs us to be just like it. Artificial.”

“And there’s something about silence that begs to be filled.”

They left it at that.

  


Minho’s house was dark when they finally arrived, the only sign of life being the christmas lights that Minho had hung in his room a few days earlier. They crept down the hallway to Minho’s room, Jisung clutching on to Minho’s sleeve as he navigated the short distance through the dark house.

Once in Minho’s room, Jisung flopped on to the older’s bed with a relieved sigh, “I felt like Black Widow right there, being all creepy crawly spy-like.”

“Your steps sounded more like the Hulk’s”

Minho effortlessly dodged the shoe that Jisung chucked at him. The pair both cringed when it made impact with the ground, the _thunk_ far too loud in the otherwise quiet house.

“Yeah I did not think that through.”

“If you had better aim it would hardly be a problem.”

Jisung made an affronted noise, “If you weren’t such a snake I wouldn’t need to attack in the first place.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“How _dare_ you group me in with you! I am no snake.”

Minho rolled his eyes and didn’t respond, turning from the closet to toss Jisung some clothes to sleep in. The younger, too distracted with lamenting about the woes of snakes, was hit in the head with the flying clothes, effectively shutting him up if only for a little.

The lights were turned off and Minho slipped under his covers beside Jisung who was furiously typing on his phone.

“Chan-hyung?”

“Nah, if I texted him this late he would come over to make sure that I went to bed. Lyrics I thought of.”

Minho turned to face the younger, watching his eyebrows furrow in concentration, illuminated by the dim light of his phone.

“New song you guys are working on?”

“Yeah, next Thursday will be our one year anniversary of forming 3racha officially, when we knew for sure Changbin-hyung had made it into the class, so Chan wants to have a kind of celebration song. I don’t know if this is what he’s looking for, but it’s how I’m feeling so he’ll deal with it.”

Minho let out a low hum, “I’m sure they’ll be great. Are you performing it at the showcase?”

“If we get it done in time.”

“You amaze me.”

Jisung’s phone slipped from his hand and hit his face. The younger squeaked and hid his face in his hands, trying to turn away from Minho. Minho laughed in delight, struggling to pull Jisung closer to him, to see his bright cheeks and shy smile he was trying to hide.

Jisung pulled his hands away from his face and stared at Minho with his wide eyes. Minho reached forward and pulled his specs off, placing them on his bedside table where hopefully neither of them would forget about them.

“You’ll help on Friday right? With moving in and decorating?’”

“Sure, it’ll give me good Karma points and good Chan points.”

“And next Friday, you’ll watch 3racha?”

“I guess, it’s kinda part of my grade for the class so…”

Jisung punched his arm lightly, “You don’t love me.”

“What’s there to love.”

“Asshole.” But both of them were smiling, comfortable with the familiar teasing.

“Mercury’s in retrograde, can you blame me?”

Jisung laughed at that, “You don’t see me turning into a sarcastic shit stick just cause the planets are suddenly out of alignment.”

“Nah, you’re like that the rest of the time so it doesn’t affect you.”

“Oh wow, so clever hyung, want an award for that one?”

“What would the award say?”

Jisung pretended to think for a second, “Biggest pile of soiled curd award?”

“Darn,” Minho shook his head, “I was hoping for something more obnoxious. Will it be bedazzled at least?”

“With neon green emoji smiley faces.”

“That’s disgusting. I love it.”

Jisung smiled and buried his head into Minho’s shoulder, “We weren’t even fighting for an entire day but it feels like it’s been ages since we’ve joked around like this.”

Minho ran his hand through the younger’s head and sighed, gaze fixed straight ahead, “I know, things have been too serious lately, it’s nice to let loose a little.”

“Go to sleep hyung, I can feel your exhaustion practically oozing off of you.”

“You know I hate the word ooze, how would you feel if I casually used the word ‘slurp’ in a sentence.”

Jisung’s whole body flinched at the word, “Just _go to sleep_.”

Against Minho’s will, he fell into a deep sleep.

  


Only to be awoken at ass o’clock by Jisung sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed and working on something on his computer.

“Sungie what the hell are you doing?”

Jisung shrieked and whirled on Minho with a pout, “You scared me!”

“ _You_ scared _me_!” Minho rubbed a hand over his face and checked his phone. Just after 5 in the morning. What was this idiot thinking. “What were you thinking idiot!”

“I’m writing a song! Leave me be.”

Minho was absolutely not gonna do that. Instead, he slid down and sat beside Jisung, tucking himself into the younger’s side with a small whine. Jisung shifted slightly to allow Minho to rest his head on his shoulder.

“What’s your song about?” Minho asked, covering his mouth to hide a yawn as he watched Jisung move tracks around and program more sounds. “If you don’t mind telling me.”

“Mothman.”

“Ok.”

Minho pushed Jisung as hard as he could, the smaller boy flying to the side with a shrill scream.

“Why _the fuck_ are you writing a song about Mothman at 5 in the morning?”

“Why the fuck not!” Jisung righted himself and fixed Minho with a glare, “If I wanna write a song about Mothman then I’m gonna write a fucking song about Mothman! The system can’t stop me. Does he not deserve to have a song written about him? Is that what you’re saying right now hyung? Because let me tel-”

Minho buried his face in his hands and groaned, “That is not what I’m saying! Write a song about Mothman’s love affair with the Lochness Monster for all I care, but not when it’s sleep time.”

“Sleep time?”

“Yeah you know, the hours between 10pm-7am when normal people do this amazing thing called sleep which also happens to be a necessity to function properly.”

“Ohhhh functioning sounds fun, how do you do that?”

“Bed. Now.” Minho pointed to his bed, unwavering even when Jisung gave him puppy eyes.

Jisung muttered darkly but complied, grabbing his laptop and misplaced specs and climbing back on to Minho’s bed, holding up the covers for Minho to crawl under. When they were situated again, Jisung opened his laptop, shushing Minho’s complaints and playing the beginning of the song.

It halted Minho’s efforts to close the laptop. It was dark, low, and enticing. It was slow, but suggested energy and aggression.

“Like it?”

“You’re gonna waste a track like that on fucking Mothman?”

“No,” Jisung closed his laptop and tucked it beneath his pillow for ‘safe keeping’, “No I stopped working on my Mothman song awhile ago, that one’s… that one’s something more personal.”

Minho sensed Jisung’s reluctance, “Well, if you ever want to show me the final piece I’m sure I’ll love it.”

“It’s about growing up. I think I’ll have the other sophomores and Jeongin record it with me.”

“I think they’d like that.”

“Yeah…” Jisung trailed off he yawned, eyes fluttering closed _thank god_ , “Night hyung.”

“Sleep well Sungie.”

  


Chan pulled Minho aside at the beginning of Art Division the next day. Hoshi side eyed them but didn’t interrupt, taking Minho’s place of pushing the desks aside.

“You made up.”

“Yeah.” Minho couldn’t quite meet Chan’s intense gaze, “The world doesn’t deserve him, hyung.”

“God, don’t I know it.” Chan was quiet for a beat, watching Minho’s nervous fiddling, “Thank you. I know that whatever happened you didn’t mean. So thank you for apologizing and thank you for being there for him.”

Minho waved him off, “It’s the least he deserves. I’m gonna do so much more for him. I’m gonna spoil him so bad, hyung, I can’t fucking wait.”

Chan laughed brightly and wow, Minho had missed that sound. Bright, not like a summer’s day or a blazing sun, but like water glistening underneath the moonlight, reflecting in every direction and illuminating the water in a hypnotic way.

He was separated from his friends for a single day and he was waxing poetry about them already. Codependency was a bitch.

Chan’s voice startled Minho from his thoughts, “Hoshi-hyung I’m stealing Minho for the day.”

Hoshi straightened and fixed the pair with an assessing look, “Fine, but only if you promise that you’ll return him without those little worry lines he’s gotten between his eyebrows. Makes him look bitchy 24/7”

Chan was already dragging Minho over to 3racha’s makeshift production studio, “Deal, Jisungie’s got that covered.”

“I’m sure he does.”

Minho shot Hoshi a middle finger over his shoulder for that one.

Chan called Jisung and Changbin to attention, waiting patiently for them to finish their argument with a round of rock paper scissors before explaining himself.

“Break day. We’ll work tonight on Start Line and Jisung can work on his evaluation but we need a break today. No buts.”

As if any of them were in the position to argue about taking a little time for themselves.

Chan clapped his hands once with a self satisfied nod, “Glad we’re all in agreement. Now into the recording booth you degenerates, we’re watching a movie.”

  


“Y’know this was originally modeled after a ‘Parent’s Help’ book.” Jisung piped up. He was sat between Changbin and Minho, huddled into Minho’s side with his eyes trained intently on the movie playing off of Chan’s computer

“No it wasn’t! How would you possibly know that.” Minho argued somewhat pettily, looking incredulously down at the younger as he shifted in his spot, eliciting an “Ow, brat” after accidentally, or maybe not so accidentally if Minho knew Jisung’s antics, elbowing the older in the side.

“I know that because I’m the closest to a genius that science has ever come to.” Jisung shifted again, this time fully going onto his knees and leaning backwards to avoid Minho’s flailing arm.

“I call bullshi-” Minho replied idignantly, reaching out and attempting to hit the younger yet again.

Jisung cut him off, grabbing Minho’s arm and leaning in close, “They likened me to Albert Einstein, and then declared that even he was lower than me.”

“Oh you absolute litt-”

Minho was yet again cut off, this time by a particularly harsh whisper from Changbin that had both of the pair settling down again, molding into each others’ sides as if their argument had never happened. Which made Minho’s heart soar, the intimacy simultaneously terrifying and familiar. Everything seemed that way with Jisung.

Changbin leaned forward, bracing his hands on his thighs as he watched the movie screen with an intensity Minho had never witnessed before, which was saying something for the expressive rapper.

“She doesn’t even go here!” He whispered along with the character on screen whose name Minho had long forgotten, stupid foreign names all sounding similar.

“Rachel McAdams was 26 when she played Regina George.”

“I swear to all the Gods ever created if you don’t shut the fuck up I will force feed you blended pizza.” Minho hissed at the youngest, who only snorted in response and pinched Minho’s side in retaliation.

Jisung’s eyes absolutely lit up at Minho’s harsh flinch backwards and his hand, which had previously been clutching the front of Minho’s shirt, slid downwards out of sight and causing the older to jerk and _jesus christ that had better been a tickle or God help him_.

Chan shushed them and they quieted down yet again, if only to appease the oldest who was strangely enraptured with the plot of the movie.

“Minho if you wiggle your toes one more time I swear to God-”

“How the hell would you even know if I’m wiggling my toes that’s just cree-”

“Who the hell else would wiggle their toes so much _right beneath my thighs_ you barbarian.” Jisung insisted, shoving Minho repeatedly in his side when the older refused to budge and instead upped the intensity at which he wriggled his toes around. He let out a small whine, “Hyung!”

“Wiggling your toes in socks just feels nice, don’t judge.”

“I regret giving you two a day off.” Chan grumbled into his hands.

  


Everything seemed to return to somewhat normal the rest of the day. Lunch came and went, their friends welcoming Minho back as if the entire ordeal had never happened. Woojin reassured Minho that nobody blamed him and that they were all beyond relieved to have him back, even if they had only been apart for a day.

The thought that his friends had missed him as much as he missed them made Minho’s self proclaimed ice heart thaw a little.

Hyunjin and Felix got Minho to agree to spend the weekend with them working on their dance audition at the dance studio. It had taken a combination of puppy eyes, bribes, and the promise of 3racha joining them for lunch for Minho to agree.

Art Division auditions were next Wednesday after school, the same day that semester projects were due. At the mention of auditions, Jisung blanched and pushed himself further into Minho’s side.

Minho looked from Jisung to Chan worriedly, “What? What’s wrong?”

“He has to audition.” Chan explained, patting Jisung’s back in consolation. “Because he’s out of the age requirements he has to audition every semester to keep his spot. He passes every time but it’s still nerve wracking as hell. We had to audition once, he’s had to do it 3 times.”

Minho addressed the sophomore in his arms, “Do you know your audition piece yet?”

“The song I was working on last night. I just need to record it and arrange the vocals and it should be complete.”

“Have you asked them for help yet?”

Jisung shook his head.

Minho rubbed his back in comfort, “They’ll be happy to help Sung, you just gotta ask.”

“But they all have so much else right now, I can’t stack more work on them.”

“It’s not work if it’s helping you.”

Jisung pulled away from Minho to look the older in the eyes with a calculating gaze. With pursed lips, Jisung addressed the millennials.

“Hoes-”

“Not the best way to start off but it got their attention.”

“I need your help for my audition piece for Art Division. Well, I need your voices at least.”

Jisung had everybody’s full attention though his words were addressed to the younger friends.

Changbin cocked his head in confusion, “I thought you were choosing between Awkward Silence and I See?”

“No,” Jisung shook his head and bit into a carrot, swallowing before continuing, “Awkward Silence is fun, but doesn’t show my seriousness. I already submitted my lyrics to I See for another project so I can’t use the final product if I want to impress.”

He said it so casually, as if having lyrics and songs produced was an everyday occurrence. Of course, for him it was.

“Wait so if you’re not using those then what are you using? Young Wings is good but you never remember the words to it.” Hyunjin chipped in, leaning to look at Jisung from around Changbin.

Jisung glanced nervously at Minho before answering, “A new track that I’ve been working on for a while now. I’ve been too self conscious about the lyrics to share but, I think I’m ready now.”

“Not even Chan-hyung knows about these lyrics?”

Chan answered Seungmin for Jisung, “Nope, I had no idea any of this was a thing.” To Jisung he said, “The back track is complete? Do you want me or Changbin to listen to it?”

Jisung seemed to have gained confidence from his friend’s curiosity. “No, as scary as it is, I want this to be a surprise. I’m kind of really proud of it.”

“Well of course we’ll help.” Jeongin excitedly leaned forward, bracing his hands against the ground, “I hope we do your lyrics justice hyung, you have the nicest music.”

Jisung blushed brightly, “Thanks Innie. Does today after school work for all of you?”

Unsurprisingly, they all readily agreed.

  


“Right! No go right! Yangyang to the ri- are you serious? There are two directions and you went the wrong way twice.” Mashiho grumbled as he helped Yangyang and Woojin navigate an armchair into the apartment. Jeongin, who was trailing behind carrying the cushions, giggled brightly and flounced to the living room.

Minho watched on from where he and Changbin were going through Jisung’s clothes and folding it for him, feeling an immense amount of happiness wash over him.

The entire group, Mashiho and Yangyang included, had skipped the last two classes of the day to go to a furniture and home goods store to get stuff for Jisung. They had piled into Taeyong’s SUV in a mess of limbs and yells, not quite fitting everybody comfortably but nobody complained, too caught up singing along to the radio to care.

They had managed to get Jisung a bed, his own armchair, some sheets, some decorations, and two fake succulents because the boy could not be trusted with real ones.

It was the happiest Minho had seen Jisung, or any of his friends, for a long time.

Felix and Jisung were in Jisung’s room hanging posters and string lights while singing along to the Moana soundtrack. Chan was in there with them, setting up Jisung’s bed and chiding the pair when their dance moves got a bit too rambunctious. Yangyang, Woojin, and Jeongin had been tasked with rearranging the living room for better “feng shui”. Or so Mashiho claimed, it seemed to Minho that the younger just enjoyed bossing Yangyang around to do ridiculous tasks. Yangyang listened attentively anyways, moving the couch 4 times before Mashiho decided that it was perfect. Seungmin and Hyunjin were busy making dinner in the kitchen, though from the sounds of it they weren’t too successful in their attempts.

Hyunjin’s head popped into view, “I think we’re gonna have to order take out.”

“Why?” Woojin straightened from setting down the armchair, looking relieved to finally be able to set it down.

“Seungmin and I may have burned the ramen? Question mark?”

“Why did you say question mark out loud?”

“To make it clear that I’m questioning it, even I’m not sure what we did but it does not smell good and it tastes even worse.”

Changbin chuckled at the younger’s antics and stood to investigate, “I’ll see if it’s salvageable, if not we’ll get take out from the chinese place down the street.”

“Oh I love that place!” Yangyang called excitedly, “They have a silken tofu dish that is orgasmic.”

Changbin shrugged and sat back down, pulling up the number for the restaurant and handing his phone to Hyunjin. Jeongin cackled wildly as Woojin sputtered and hit Yangyang’s arm, “There are children present!”

“Oh please, you should hear Mashiho when I beat him at Mario Kart. I’ve learned some pretty explicit words from him.”

“Wha- not true dipshit!”

Yangyang fixed Mashiho with a knowing look, “Can’t deny it kid, the first Korean words you committed yourself to learning were the curse words.”

Then Yangyang had an armful of Mashiho who had launched himself at the older with a loud battle cry.

Jisung and Felix came running from the bedroom with Chan chasing after them.

“Hyung help! The kangaroo is out for blood.” Jisung cried as he dove behind Changbin and Minho, knocking a pile of his nicely folded clothes to the ground.

Changbin looked at Minho with a straight face, “I’m gonna kill them.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’m gonna kill them so hard they won’t even know I’ve killed them until I’m killing them a second time.”

“That’s… That’s not exactly how death works.”

Changbin ignored Minho’s words and swatted at Jisung’s thigh, eliciting a yelp from him, “Hyung what was that for!”

“Why do I bother with you.”

“Order has been placed!” Hyunjin sang proudly, faltering when he saw the state of the living room, “I… I was gone for less than a minute.”

Felix looked up from where Chan had him in a headlock, “Did you remember the lo mein?”

Hyunjin nodded absently.

Minho reached out and patted his calf in consolation, “Could be worse.”

Dinner was eaten in a lopsided circle on the living room floor, takeout boxes being passed around to “avoid more dishes”. Felix, much to the annoyance of Jeongin and Seungmin, hogged the box of lo mein the entire meal, practically growling when anyone dare go close. Yangyang sipped the peanut sauce they had gotten on a dare from Jisung, getting himself an eggroll to the head from Changbin.

After the leftovers were stored on the refrigerator, Yangyang and Mashiho brought comforters, pillows, and blankets to the living room and a makeshift bed was completed quickly. Once the lights were turned off the atmosphere shifted. No one spoke above a whisper, no one laughed louder than a giggle, no one sang louder than a hum. The silence was filled but accepted, the sounds of each other offering a solace for an otherwise soundless room.

Minho recalled Jisung’s words about silence and held the sophomore the tiniest bit tighter.

  


Saturday and Sunday were a blur of the school’s dance studio and the Art Division classroom. Felix and Hyunjin’s audition piece was good, amazing even, but the sophomores were adamant about not slacking off and continued to practice until they could hardly function. Seungmin, Woojin, and Jeongin were in the choir room next door, practicing for the choir show and helping Jeongin with his audition piece as well. The producing trio were wholed up in the Art Division classroom from dawn till dusk, then dusk till dawn as well. Chan was finalizing their new song for the showcase, Changbin was busy rearranging a few of their deleted tracks as backup pieces and Jisung was working tirelessly on his audition track, still refusing to show anyone even a single beat of it.

The youngers had been sworn to secrecy over the lyrics, even to each other, and Jisung had purposefully recorded them out of order so even they were clueless as to what the final piece had in store.

It was driving Changbin and Chan insane.

It was nearing sunset on Sunday night, Minho calling for Hyunjin and Felix to take a break and eat something to get energy back. The entire group was in the Art Division classroom for the time being, either taking breaks or taking advantage of the mass amount of supplies that the classroom had.

Minho turned away from the two sophomores and towards 3racha, worry pulling his eyebrows together when he observed the trio, all in various states of disarray. Chan looked rather put together, if Minho ignored the dark undereyes and the way his hand was shaking as he ran it through his hair. Pacing behind Chan was Changbin, murmuring in a low tone to himself as he read and reread lyrics off of a piece of paper. His would mouth periodically twist downwards when he missed a beat or stumbled over syllables. Jisung was sat beside Chan, intently working on his computer while running his thumbnail over his lower lip, making it red and raw.

Minho set his water aside and made his way to the group, crouching beside Jisung and slowly reaching his hand out, wrapping it around Jisung’s and pulling it away from his mouth.

“Careful sweetheart, you’ll split your lip doing that.”

“Ah sorry hyung.” Jisung bashfully ducked his head, turning his chair to face Minho.

“No need to apologize, how about you take a break for a little, you haven’t stood up since this morning.”

Jisung looked hesitant to comply, Minho could see him turning over the idea of stopping and losing time on his track. Minho gently tugged the sophomore from his seat, leaving him the option to insist on staying if he felt the need to.

Luckily, he went with Minho willingly, following him to where Felix and Hyunjin were sitting atop desks and eating granola from small baggies that Woojin had packed.

Neither of the other sophomores looked surprised at Jisung’s appearance, Hyunjin wrapped his arm around the younger while Felix fed him a handful of granola. They would take care of Jisung just fine.

Minho wracked his gaze across the room, eyes settling on the next person he needed to help: Seungmin.

A bit of a trickier target, he was not someone who accepted help easily and probably did not even realize that he was showing some of his more obvious _ticks_.

The one rather prevalent at the moment was his habit of scratching at the skin right beneath his hairline. It was growing steadily pinker as Seungmin mercilessly irritated it. Sheet music was clutched in his free hand and he hummed along to it as Woojin sang. His expression was schooled and stoic, but the scratching gave away his mounting anxiety.

Minho waited until Woojin finished before making his way over, attempting to look casual and failing when he nearly tripped over Felix’s backpack.

Seungmin snorted, “The most graceless graceful dancer.”

“Fuck off brat.” Minho bit back, sitting on the table beside Seungmin and pulling the younger closer, careful to remove his hand afterwards. “How’s Jeongin doing?”

“Saying sorry to everything again, happens when his anxiety spikes. Keeps on tearing up too, even when he nails it he finds something wrong with it and rips himself apart. Woojin and I are trying our best to help but he then starts apologizing for being a burden to us and tears up all over again.”

Minho was slightly taken aback, “I...I didn’t know it was that bad. I didn’t even know that happens when you have anxiety.”

“Yeah well, anxiety is different for everyone, Jeongin’s is kind of dormant most of the time because he knows his specific symptoms and triggers but like, it overflows when stress piles up.”

“And what about you?” Dangerous territory.

Seungmin gave Minho a look, “I’m fine hyung.”

“Minnie…”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Seungmin.” Minho didn’t pull his hyung card too often, making it more startling when he did.

Seungmin pulled his lips into a tight line and tucked his chin downwards, “Nothing I can’t handle. Just, like, I guess the apathy is coming back.”

Minho stayed quiet, willing Seungmin to continue.

“It’s not stress related, I think I’m going into another episode. Apathetic to my favorite shows and songs, not eating right, and my jaw is locking when I wake up. And talking about it makes me feel like I’m just begging for attention but not talking about it makes me feel like it’s invalid and that I’m not actually hurting. It’s all too confusing.”

“Touch?”

“Not right now. It’s too much right now.”

“Ok. Tell me when you need something please? Or if you need just some company, if that will help in anyway I… I’m here for you.”

Seungmin lifted his head and smiled at Minho, “Noted. Now leave, you’re making me sappy and I need to focus on this song.”

Minho nodded, resisting his impulse to ruffle the younger’s hair and instead giving him a reassuring smile before returning to the other sophomores.

As long as he could help it, he would support his friends.

  


No one was truly in the right state of mind the next week. Monday and Tuesday were foggy in Minho’s mind. He remembered skipping classes to practice his dance, skipping dance to catch up with his classes, and trying in vain to stop his friends from overworking themselves (though they pointed out that he was a bit of a hypocrite there).

He didn’t really see his friends, or if he did he barely remembered their interactions outside of tired hellos and check ins to make sure no one was overdoing anything. Minho heard that Woojin had forced Hyunjin to sleep in the nurse’s office when the eldest had found out that he hadn’t been home in two days.

Despite the stress, mounting anxiety, exhaustion, hopelessness, and constant headache, Minho felt amazing. Sometime over the weekend, his dance had _clicked_. The final piece had fallen into place and Minho felt as if he had made something to be proud of. Riding off of the ecstatic mood, he made Felix and Jeongin go to dinner with him Tuesday night, the night before school-wide auditions, to calm the two youngers’ nerves.

He tried to whisk Jisung and Hyunjin along with them, but Jisung had rolled his chair halfway around the Art Division room before Minho gave up his chase and Hyunjin had _growled_ when Minho tried to turn off his music. So Minho left them be.

Admittedly, Minho wasn’t all that close with Felix or Jeongin, never really had alone time with either of them, but it was as good a time as any to befriend the two.

He took them to a quaint, hole-in-the-wall noodle shop that was a few blocks away from the city college. The weather had been turning colder, not unbearably so but to the point that Minho sacrificed his outermost coat to wrap around Felix as the sophomore had forgotten a jacket at all.

The restaurant was lit with low, exposed lightbulbs that buzzed quietly as electricity flowed through them. Jeongin claimed the small table by the window while Felix and Minho went to the counter to order.

“Green tea hyung! None of that bullshit jasmine tea!” Jeongin shouted across the room.

Felix cackled and gave the younger a thumbs up as Minho buried his face in his hand, not having expected the outburst from the usually quiet freshman.

They ordered without fuss, getting their food quickly and making their way back to Jeongin who was messing around with something on his phone. Had Minho not known that it was comforting for Jeongin when he was surrounded by an unfamiliar environment, he would’ve cracked a joke.

The meal itself was pleasant and uneventful. Felix told Minho about his home in Australia, getting so excited at one point that he smacked Jeongin in the face with a noodle. Jeongin yelped and smacked Felix’s shoulder with a sound of disapproval, wiping at his face indignantly.

After their meal, while Minho collected their dishes, Felix and Jeongin ducked beneath their side of the whisper, having a quick conversation in harsh whispers. If the pair wanted to tell Minho, they would.

And they did.

Felix straightened up and pinned Minho down with a hostile look that Minho was unaware that the younger was capable of.

“Hyung.”

Minho quirked an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Jeongin clasped his hands on the table, leaning forward with narrowed eyes, “Hyung we want to help you.”

“With…” Minho trailed off, having an idea of where they were taking this conversation but wanting to avoid it if at all possible.

“With boning my best friend.”

Minho coughed, ducking his head to hide his burning cheeks to no avail. “ _Felix!_ You can’t just say something like that!”

“Well am I wrong? You wanna bone him don’t you?”

“I- I wouldn’t _mind_ but you can’t- that’s beside the point anyway-”

Jeongin held up a hand in a halting gesture that seemed much too mature for the wide eyed freshman, “It is exactly the point, hyung. We want to help you get Jisung-hyung, would you like our help or not?”

“Not exactly help, more like advice.” Felix clarified.

“What,” Minho cleared his throat with an unsure glance over his back, “What kind of advice?”

“Just Jisung’s likes and dislikes, what he’ll respond to versus what will fly right over his head because he’s an oblivious fuck who wouldn’t see an elephant even if it was three feet in front of him playing _Call Me Maybe_ on a banjo-”

“Felix you lost the point.”

“- _the point being_ that even if you don’t ask him out in the next week, month, or even year, this stuff would be useful to know and we really want you guys to be happy so…” Felix trailed off and shrugged helplessly, “I’m sure most of this stuff you already know but we just, we want to be useful and this is the best way we could think to do it.”

Jeongin nodded resolutely, “What he said.”

“He likes hugs.”

“And cuddles!”

“And kisses but he’ll never admit to that one.”

Jeongin nodded yet again, sagely this time, “He’s platonically kissed everyone in the friend group, says it’s bonding, we say he’s just affectionate.”

Minho felt his mouth twitch with the beginning of a smile. It was completely in character for Jisung to seek out kisses from their friend group as a form of comfort, probably not even realizing that it was a typically intimate act. It was also so in character for Felix and Jeongin to try and give him “advice”.

How did he possibly get so lucky.

They carried on that way, Felix and Jeongin alternating facts about Jisung, most of which Jisung had told Minho himself or Minho had observed. Jisung like strawberry milk more than banana milk, he watched cartoons when he was sick, he preferred sleeping with something he can cuddle with, he often forgot to take his earrings out before he went to bed, he sang in the shower, he liked to wear fuzzy socks and slide down the school hallways late at night.

The sun shone through the windows and refracted off of glasses and bowls at random. And Minho fell deeper and deeper for the round cheeked sophomore who had caught his entire heart.

Minho puckered his lips at his own train of thought, he was getting too soft.

  


Wednesday was chaos. Nearly the entire student body was in disarray as they scraped together their audition pieces for the various classes holding auditions for the day. Classes were nearly empty but the hallways were packed with students finishing the shading on art pieces, making last minute edits on photos, reciting Shakespeare pieces. No teachers bothered to herd the students in, all resigned to the fact that there was no adequate work to get done for the day.

Minho watched it unfold amusedly. Him, Chan, Woojin, and Changbin didn’t have any auditions to worry about so they made themselves comfortable on the ground in the producing corner of the Art Division classroom, playing a rather competitive round of Uno.

Jeongin had locked himself in the recording booth in the morning and had yet to venture out at lunch time. Felix and Hyunjin, according to Changbin, were on the roof reviewing their dance and enjoying the fresh air while they could. Seungmin was in the choir room helping direct the auditions while Jisung was hunched over his laptop in Art Division, muttering to himself as he worked to the last possible second on his track.

Minutes before the final bell of the day rang, Jeongin bolted from the booth, shouting a goodbye to his hyungs as he rushed to his choir audition. He barreled straight past Hyunjin and Felix who had to throw themselves out of the frazzled freshmen’s way. Almost simultaneously, Jisung straightened in his seat with a triumphant but tired smile. He looked to the group on the ground and nodded once towards them, his relief at finally finishing tangible.

“Can we listen?” Chan ventured, not very hopeful.

To all of their surprises, Jisung nodded, “It’s done, I’m not changing it anymore, it’s already saved and uploaded and downloaded and _it’s done_. So you can listen.”

They crowded around behind Jisung’s seat, Felix and Hyunjin joining them, as Jisung queued it up.

It was… not what Minho expected.

The brief seconds of the track that Jisung had shown Minho were nothing compared to the haunting, devastating and all too real final version.

It spoke about the fears that Minho had never been able to vocalize, had never been able to make into a concise sentence.

Fears that Minho had no idea other people felt.

By the end, Jisung was blushing brightly but was obviously pleased with himself. He faltered when he saw everyone’s shocked reactions.

“Jisungie…” Chan said, tearing his gaze away from the laptop screen and to Jisung who was grimacing now. “Jisungie you… you’re a genius.”

“What?”

Changbin shook his head in disbelief, “Your lyrics Ji, they’re beautiful. They’re so meaningful! They’re…  they’re…”

“They’re you,” Minho spoke up, “They’re raw, vulnerable, uninhibited _you_.” Minho paused, no words could accurately describe the pride he felt for the other, “You amaze me, you will never cease to amaze me with your relentless mind.”

The noise didn’t exactly cancel out around them, but Minho couldn’t find it in himself to listen to the compliments and reassurances that his friends were showering on Jisung. His entire attention, every ounce of it, was on the boy in front of him who was beaming, looking from one friend to another and emitting such a light that Minho couldn’t look away.

How would Minho ever deserve him.

Felix laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, peering at him with a tesaing smile, “Whipped?”

“Like cream, Lix. I’m a puddle of whipped cream.”

Felix snorted with an understanding tilt of his head, “Yep, that’s what I thought.”

Felix moved back to Hyunjin’s side, the pair moving away to get ready with some last words of encouragement for Jisung.

“Good luck you two!” Changbin shouted to their backs, getting a lazy thumbs up in response. “Rude bitches.”

“What did you expect from them?” Woojin asked with an incredulous tone, clearly used to the youngers’ antics.

“Is it too much to ask for a little love around here.”

“Yes.” Woojin deadpanned.

Changbin sulked, “I hate this fucking group.”

Jisung sprung from his seat, brandishing a flashdrive high in the air with a triumphant smile, “My labor is done. I can rest assured knowing this is turned in and I never have to do another audition again.”

“Good job Sungie, go turn it in then I’ll take you out to dinner, how does that sound?” Chan said, tucking the younger under his arm with a proud grin.

“Sounds heavenly.”

“I’m guessing after dinner we’re coming back here to work the next 48 hours on the showcase performance.” Changbin said, moving to pack up and tuck away the loose supplies laying around their station.

“Yep.”

“No.”

Chan and Woojin replied, respectively.

Woojin shot Chan a withering glare, “No. You three will go home, _rest_ , and come back tomorrow at a reasonable hour.”

“Bu-”

“No arguing. You have been working your asses off for weeks, Jisung is basically a walking corpse at this point and Chan’s blood has turned to energy drinks with how much he’s been drinking. You three are getting well deserved rest.”

Changbin crossed his arms defiantly, “Hyung we can rest once we’ve finished, as long as there’s more wor-”

“ _No arguing_ Changbin. 8 hours away from your music will not kill you.”

Changbin looked like he wanted to argue further but Chan grasped his shoulder in a firm grip, shaking his head minimally. “Ok, Woojinnie, we’ll listen to you. I promise.”

There were a few seconds of tense silence during which Minho looked towards Jisung, who had shrunken backwards as the argument had progressed. He looked just as lost and helpless as Minho felt.

Jisung cleared his throat uncomfortably, “I’m just gonna...turn this in...yeah…”

He scampered to where the teacher was organizing auditions, placing the flashdrive delicately on the man’s desk.

Woojin turned his attention to Minho. “I know that you’ve also been working yourself to the bone so the same goes for you. You can take Felix and Hyunjin out to dinner like you planned, but no sneaking back in here for unnecessary practice afterwards.”

If Woojin hadn’t actually been right about Minho wanting to come back, Minho would’ve been offended at being grouped in with the idiocy that was 3racha’s work habits. As it was though, Minho would be quite the hypocrite.

“Understood.” Minho replied with a mock salute, getting himself a halfhearted flick to his ear.

“I’m taking Seungmin and Jeongin to my house after this and cooking them something, God knows they both deserve a warm home cooked meal for once, then they’re both staying at mine for the night, ok?”

Though he spoke to everyone, it was directed primarily at Chan as the other senior of the group. Chan gave him a thumbs up, to which Woojin rolled his eyes.

“No overworking, any of you, understood?”

“Understood _Dad_.” Changbin grumbled, but he had a small smile dancing on his lips, endeared by the elder’s passionate concern.

“Is that anyway to speak to your Father?” Woojin huffed  
“Wouldn’t know.” Jisung deadpanned from behind Minho, startling the elder enough for him to flinch and whirl towards him. “Sorry, self deprecating jokes are kinda my thing.”

Minho shrugged, “Badly timed sexual jokes are mine.”

“Player respects player.”

Jisung raised his hand for a high five but Chan grasped it, looking between Minho and Jisung incredulously, “No…”

“As fun as diving into our long oppressed mental idiosyncrasies sounds, we have a dinner to attend to.” Changbin stated, looping his arm through Jisung’s and giving the pair a prim nod, “Minho, Woojin. We shall reconvene tomorrow. I bid you adieu.”

He all but dragged Jisung out of the classroom, Chan following behind complaining about being stuck carrying all of their supplies.

Woojin looked towards Minho, “Y’know, most people think Changbin is the most normal of us.”

“How devastatingly wrong they are.”

  


Minho didn’t hear from his friends for the rest of the night. He busied himself with late homework while he waited for Hyunjin and Felix to finish their audition, both excited and anxious to know how the sophomores did.

They emerged from the classroom with matching smiles and enthusiastic exclamations about how they thought they did.

Though Minho wasn’t religious, he prayed to any God that would listen that the pair would make it into Art Division.

Dinner was uneventful. Despite the excitement about the auditions, both Hyunjin and Felix seemed to crash about halfway through, stress and exhaustion catching up to them _after weeks of neglecting it_. Minho accompanied each home before returning to his own house, keeping to his promise about not practicing.

Which only left thinking.

Jeongin’s anxiety would hopefully dwindle down now that auditions were over, but Minho didn’t know him well enough to say for certain that it worked that way. For all Minho knew, he would go into weeks of anxiety ridden days before it would leave him again. If it left him at all. Minho added researching anxiety to his list to do.

Seungmin’s depression was a whole other issue. Minho knew the sophomore had a tendency to ignore and dismiss his health if he thought others would notice, which seemed to be the case at the moment. If he was going into another depressive episode, Minho wasn’t sure there was much he could do for Seungmin.

For any of them.

They were all suffering.

Jisung and his insomnia and his abusive parents. Because _yes_ mental and emotional abuse is valid, fuck anyone who says otherwise, Minho will fight them personally.

Felix and his self confidence.

Hyunjin and his insecurities.

Changbin and his overbearing parents.

Chan and his insomnia and ever mounting responsibilities.

Woojin and his altruistic tendencies.

Minho’s hand slipped and he knocked the side of it against the warming pot. He let out a hiss of pain, moving to the sink to wash off the burn.

But then it was purple.

The water was moving sluggishly and the edges of his vision were a hazy violet and his mouth felt like cotton and everything was purple.

Minho choked on a sob as it receded once again.

He didn’t understand the fixation his mind had on purple, why it kept coming back to him over and over and _over._

Minho slept fitfully that night.

  


Thursday, as most of the rest of the week, was a mess of checking in with teachers at random, skipping classes, and practicing until his feet bled.

Hoshi was relentless in drilling them with both their routine as well as freestyle challenges, odd intervals of yoga, and at one point a high note challenge that had Minghao yelling at Hoshi from across the room while Yerim and Jihyo laughed hysterically from behind their cake station.

It was a bit ridiculous, but it eased the heavy tension that had engulfed the classroom before. Kevin began humming along to Jacob’s tune, Yeosang doing a little hip sway along as well. Hoshi had the undeniable ability to lighten the mood when it needed it the most.

3racha were practicing in the recording booth, periodically coming out to surround Chan’s computer and consult on what needed touching up and what they had down already. Minho’s every instinct and desire burned to check in on the trio, just to make sure they were all ok, but he held himself back. Though they all deserved and probably needed a break or at least a friendly face, Minho highly doubted that an interruption now would bode any of them well.

So Minho left the three idiots to their own and enjoyed every last second he could with the dance group, relishing on the quiet before the storm.

  


“You’re late.”

“I’m on time!

“I said 2:30!”

“And I put it in my reminder for 2:30! I left my house on time.”

“You’re supposed to _arrive_ at 2:30, not leave at 2:30!”

Minho rubbed at his temples as Changbin and Jisung’s loud bickering floated over the chatter of the classroom. The entirety of Art Division had skipped Friday classes, sleeping in and preparing for their performances that night. Minho had gotten to school right as the final bell rang, saying hi to Felix and Jeongin who wished him luck on the dance and promised they would be in the crowd with airhorns and posters.

Seungmin and Woojin had called him a greeting as they had rushed by for choir. Because both boys had high rankings in the class, they were responsible for coordinating and organizing the students for the concert, adding to their already stressful task.

Minho was the first of the dance group to arrive and had used the time to go over his solo a few times, having Kevin watch and tell him where he could improve.

3racha had been some of the last to arrive, mostly because they didn’t have an exhibition they needed to transport and set up at the school’s gallery. Because of that, the three performing groups lounged around the classroom for awhile, escaping the disarray that the student body had fallen into.

Changbin and Jisung hated the peace and quiet though.

“Swimming.”

“Aquatic flying.”

“ _Why_ would you say that.”

Minho pressed his fingers to his temples. It had been nearly 20 minutes of the two bickering about nonsense that would end with passive aggressive comments and huffs. Minho was a relatively patient person, you had to be when half of your friends were actual children, but even his patience was waning with the amount of arguing that was happening beside him.

“Guys,” Chan interrupted them, “ _Please_.”

“Tell Sungie that swimming isn’t aquatic flying!”

“Tell Binnie-hyung that blowfish aren’t the beach balls of fish!”

Chan looked affronted, “What kind of conversations are you two having, _honestly-_ ”

He was cut off by the Art Division teacher coming in and calling for everyone’s attention. “Ok kids, students, apprentices, whatever the hell you guys are to me-”

Jisung giggled, “He cursed.”

Changbin slapped his arm.

“-it is now, it is today, it is this very moment that your talent will be showcased for the entire world to see and judge-”

Minho cocked his head in confusion.

“-so get your asses down there and be ready. Dance group is on in 15.”

There was a beat of silence, then a few yelps of surprise and a frenzy for people to get their stuff together and wish each other good luck.

Minho slung his dance bag and turned to his friends, “Parents?”

“Mine are here in the crowd,” Chan answered, “Changbin’s refused to come because it didn’t show ‘academic excellence’ and well...y’know.”

“Well screw parents, we have each other. The others said they’d be here and that’s all I need.” Jisung said resolutely, fiddling with one of the many rings on his fingers. His hoodie had been shed away, revealing a striped undershirt and tucked in American band shirt, a look so starkly different from his usual soft style.

Chan straightened suddenly, “Oh! I have a gift for all of you, hold on…”

He rifled around in his bag while the other three shared confused looks.

“Here it is… nope wrong thing. Hold on, hold on, hold on,” He pulled his hand out with a triumphant, “Aha!”

“A box?” Changbin asked.

“Well yeah but not the box itself, what’s _inside_.” Chan opened the small box, revealing three matching necklaces and a ring. “The necklaces are for 3racha, sorry Minho, but the ring I got for you.”

He slipped his on over his head, gesturing to Jisung and Changbin to turn around so he could secure theirs as well. Once he was satisfied he looked to Minho, taking his hand and slipping the ring over his finger in an impossibly gentle manner.

“I just thought, this is my last winter showcase with you guys and I know we also have the end of the year one but this one is special it’s… it’s meaningful.” Chan explained quietly, looking between the three of them with such sincerity it made Minho’s heart hurt and head reel.

“Thank you hyung, I love it. I love you.” Jisung rushed forward and hugged Chan tightly, burying his head in the older’s neck. Chan laughed heartily and held the other tightly, welcoming Changbin and Minho in when they joined.

“I love you guys, we’re gonna be ok.”

  


Minho twisted his new ring around his finger as he watched Hoshi and Lip stretch a few feet away. They would be on stage in less than 5 minutes. The stress of the last 4 weeks would finally be over, and hopefully it would be worth it.

“Hyung!”

Minho, Yugyeom, and Hoshi all looked over to see Hyunjin and Felix running over, dodging the other people waiting backstage.

“Hyung we have news!” Hyunjin shouted, nearly tripping over one of Jacob’s friends who was sitting on the ground.

Minho took hurried steps towards them, scenario after scenario flashing through his mind about what could have the pair so hurried. “What happened? Is anyone hurt?”

The sophomores skidded to a halt in front of him, Hyunjin doubling over to gasp for breath while Felix grasped both of Minho’s shoulders in a tight hold, “No the opposite hyung! We got into Art Division!”

Hyunjin nodded his head and offered a weak thumbs up.

Minho beamed at them, “I knew you guys could do it! God I’m so proud of you, you deserve it!  
Felix grinned and hugged Minho tightly. “Thank you hyung, for everything,” He whispered, voice slightly choked.

“Oh oh wait for me!” Hyunjin righted himself and threw himself into the hug.

“Minho we need to go!” Hoshi shouted over from where he was watching with a proud smile.

Minho ruffled Felix’s hair and patted Hyunjin’s back, “I’ll see you guys after my set, take notes.”

He jogged back to Hoshi who grinned at him, “Ready kid?”

“I’m like, 2 years younger than you.”

“And yet I am eons older in wisdom.”

“C’mon c’mon opening positions you two,” Yugyeom ushered them on stage.

“Oh but wait! Last huddle you guys, bring it in,” Hoshi waved everyone towards him. “Now this may be the worst time to tell you guys but a few representatives from Seoul University are here scouting.”

“Hoshi-hyung why would you choose now to tell us this.” Yugyeom said as he tossed his head backwards, “Do you want to give me an early death.”

“Well yes but that will have to wait. These guys are looking for the best of the best, they’re here to watch _us_. So let’s show em what we got.”

“Hoshi fighting!” Lip yelled with a fist in the air.

“Hoshi fighting!” Minho and Yugyeom chorused with laughs.

Hoshi shoved Lip’s shoulder playfully, “Love you all.”

“Ew.”

“Seriously are you all emotionally constipated!”

The lights flashed, a warning for them to get into first position.

Yugyeom patted Minho’s back with a reassuring smile, “You got this, kid, make him proud.”

Minho sniffed and turned his head up, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The lights flashed once more before fading to black. The curtains opened with a grating creak. Minho lowered his head, taking a deep breath as the lights came up again, basking the stage in a soft lilac.

The song started.

And Minho was gone.

  


The cheers of the audience echoed and resounded around the auditorium, temporarily deafening Minho as he sucked in air. They had gotten a standing ovation. They had _really_ gotten a standing ovation.

Towards the front, Jisung and Felix were jumping up and down in the aisle, shouting their lungs out as they clapped. Right behind them were Chan and Woojin, also cheering though not quite as rambunctiously as the other pair. In the actual seats were the rest of their group, Changbin standing on his chair as he clapped, Hyunjin steadying his leg and holding Jeongin’s hand tightly. In true Seungmin fashion, the sophomore was giving him a slow clap with a knowing smile.

Hoshi was suddenly on his back and Yugyeom in front of him, Lip standing just behind the senior.

“We did it! Take that you asshats!” Hoshi whooped loudly in Minho’s ear, causing the younger to cringe and try to shake him from his back.

“Who are you even talking to?” Yugyeom tried to sound incredulous but was beaming too widely for Minho to believe it.

“I don’t fucking know, the system I guess. Yeah! That sounds right, fuck the system!”

“Hoshi!”

The dance group turned to see who had shouted, finding Wonwoo smiling and holding a bouquet of flowers that were wilting.

“Hoshi get your ass over here and kiss me!”

Hoshi blushed bright red and slid from Minho’s back, “Gotta go and get me a good fuck! We’ll celebrate later!”

“Gross.”

“Really hyung.”

Despite the exclamations of disgust, the remaining three watched with soft eyes as the two seniors embraced each other, kissing tenderly under the bright stage lights.

Yugyeom gave Minho a look, “You next?”

“Fuck off hyung.”

“Minho-hyung!”

Yugyeom laughed in delight, “Here he comes.”

Minho turned right in time to catch the flying boy in his arms, stumbling backwards a few steps from the momentum. He tightened his grip on Jisung and buried his face in the crook of his neck, “Sungie.”

“I can’t stay long, Chan wants me back stage but _oh my god_ you were amazing! You like floated over the air! I swear you didn’t even touch the ground half of the time.” Jisung shook his head in disbelief, “Wah hyung, you’re so talented, such a hard worker, _god-_ ”

Minho laughed brightly. As much as he loved both having Jisung in his arms and showering him in compliments, the younger was really needed elsewhere, “Thanks Sungie, love you too. Now go you dork, you don’t have long until your set.”

Jisung’s cheeks flushed and he looked down, “Love you too hyung, wish me luck.”

“You don’t need it.” Minho smiled gently down at the other, stroking his cheek softly, “Now go before Chan-hyung skins both of us.”

“Going, going. Bye hyung!”

Minho nodded in response, watching Jisung skip to the dressing room to get ready for his set. Minho followed the others as they cleared off the stage to make room for Jacob’s set, finding his way to Hyunjin and taking a seat.

Jacob’s set, to no one’s surprise, was beautifully touching, bringing a few of his friends on stage to sing with him. The songs he had chosen were melancholy and tender, his voice smooth and gentle.

Beside him, Jeongin sighed with content, sliding slightly down in his seat. Minho glanced over before slinging his arm around the maknae and pulling Jeongin against his side.

Jacob ended with a bashful smile and a standing ovation from the audience. The curtains closed just as his friends surrounded him on stage for one giant group hug.

Anticipation blanketed the six friends in the audience. It seemed as though the curtain had barely brushed closed before it was being opened again, showing three figures with their heads down and bodies bathed in a dark red light.

Then the music started and Minho was captivated.

They were made for the stage, it was undeniable. The way the three moved effortlessly around each other, matching the best with each and every step… Minho couldn’t look away.

Chan was stableness. He provided the grounding reality of the three, his voice simultaneously rough and gentle.

Changbin was their strength. Every syllable was performed with emphasis, with power. He was intimidating and threatening, yet not enough so to overshadow the other two.

Then Jisung, their gentle, melodic touch. He was just as stable and powerful as Chan and Changbin, but he focused on the undeniable emotion behind his lyrics.

They sang about their troubles with family, about feeling as if they’d never be enough. The indescribable feeling of following a dream that others believed would lead nowhere, the stress of wanting to believe in yourself when no one else would.

After the end of their fourth song, the lights switched. The intense red was replaced with soft white and the three stood still as their final song began.

Minho knee right away what song it was. The one that Jisung had been writing that night in the dead of night, 3racha’s one year anniversary that had been kept in complete secrecy. And it was beautiful. Each verse was so unique to the one performing it, so undeniably talking about their own personal struggles and about relying on one another to get to where they are today.

Minho didn’t hesitate to throw himself towards the stage when the song ended, pushed along by his friends behind him as they rushed to congratulate the three. Chan tackled Jisung to the ground, cradling his neck to break the fall, their laughs not reaching Minho’s ears. Changbin watched them with an adoring smile, waving to the crowd. The cheers from the crowd were drowned out as Minho stumbled on stage, nearly face planting when his foot caught on the edge, but he caught himself and flopped on top of the pair on the ground. Then Jeongin was cradling Jisung’s face as the rest of them lowered themselves overtop. After Changbin, Minho pushed himself upwards just slightly, careful to make sure Chan and Jisung didn’t get crushed beneath him.

They climbed off for proper congratulations, Minho immediately embracing Jisung tightly, “Amazing, Jisungie, you were breathtaking. Captivating, absolutely entrancing. You did so good.” MInho held him away at arms distance, looking Jisung in the eyes, “You were made to write lyrics, Sungie.”

Jisung was beaming, his hands gripping Minho’s upper bicep, “Hyung, thank you thank you _thank you_ -”

“Jisung!” Chan called, coming up to them with an equally as bright smile, “Someone special came to see you!”

Jisung’s head shot up, searching the area for whoever the mysterious guest was. He got on his tippy toes, steadying himself on Minho’s shoulder as he peered over their friends.

“Who?”

“Sungie!” A deep voice sounded over the loud chatter of the auditorium. From the throng of people in front of the stage a man came forward, making his way up the stairs in an effortlessly graceful manner.

Which cancelled out not even two seconds later when he stumbled over his own feet and nearly knocked Jeongin down, who only stuck his tongue out at the stranger.

“Brian-hyung!” Jisung sprang forward towards Brian, launching himself at him and wrapping his legs around the other’s torso, “Hyung I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too kid.” Brian’s tone was gentle and filled with regret as he stroked Jisung’s hair tenderly, “I should’ve come visit.”

“What? No hyung,” Jisung pulled away slightly, “I understand, it’s not like you can visit whenever you feel like it, California is halfway around the world from Korea.”

Brian sighed slightly, looking as if he wanted to argue but holding it back, if only for the sake of Jisung, “You did awesome, Jiji, I was blown away.”

Jisung knocked their foreheads together with a bashful smile, “I learned from the best. Speaking of the best, where’s Jae-hyung.”

“Ah!” Brian dropped Jisung to the ground indignantly, “I come all the way to Korea and this is the treatment I get! The insolence I swea-”

“I’m kidding I’m kidding!” Jisung suddenly seemed to remember that he had spectators, “Oh hyung! Come meet my new friend!”

“You collect friends as if they were seashells.”

“ _Shhhh_.”

Jisung pulled Brian over to where Chan and Minho had been joined by Changbin, the three watching on as Jisung flounced to them animatedly.

“Minho-hyung this is Brian-hyung! He’s my cousin.” Jisung leaned forward to stage whisper to Minho, “He’s from Canada. It’s a dark part of our family history.”

Brian swatted the back of his head, “Brat.”

Minho reached his hand out for a handshake, getting swept into a bone crushing hug instead.

“Welcome to the family Minho. It’s messy, but it’s good. Just ask Chan.”

“I… Thank you, hyung.”

Brian patted his back as he pulled away, smiling to the group warmly, “As much fun as this has been, I’m gonna leave you guys to celebrate. I have a jetlagged boyfriend asleep in the audience right now that I need to take care of.” He fist bumped Chan and Changbin and placed a light kiss to Jisung’s head, “We’re having lunch tomorrow kid, I can pick you up from your apartment and then you’re telling me _everything_ about what happened with your shit stain parents.”

Jisung grasped Brian’s hand with a small frown, “You’re leaving already?”

“I promise I’ll see you tomorrow, I love you Jiji.”

“Love you too hyung.”

Jisung seemed hesitant to let go of his hand but did so anyway, letting his own flop uselessly to his side. Minho was quick to grab it once again and offer him an encouraging smile.

Chan clapped loudly, attempting to get all of their attention, “Kids kids settle down!”

“I’m older than you!”

“My _children_! We’re going to Jinjin Diner for a celebratory dinner so everyone get their things and meet at the Art Division classroom in ten minutes.”

“And what gave you this authority?”

“Just _go_!”

  


Jinjin Diner was a popular restaurant for high school and college students alike. It had a comfortable, warm interior and sold comfort food for cheap, which was especially appealing to college students away from home.

The cool night seemed to have deterred nearly everyone from frequenting the usually busy spot, leaving only Minho’s friends and a few odd families scattered about. The friends had pushed together three tables for them to sit at and took up another two with backpacks and bags. Along with taking up almost half of the seating in the entire restaurant, they were being exceptionally loud, still riding off of the high of the performance and finding out all of their friends had made it through auditions.

“That bitch just threw a fry at me!” Changbin exclaimed, rising slightly from his seat to glare at Hyunjin.

Hyunjin shrugged and popped a fry in his mouth, “Whatchu gonna do about it tough guy.”

Chan tugged Changbin back down before he had a chance to sling a chip at the cheeky dancer. “No food fights, any of you.”

Changbin grumbled but settled back down, narrowing his eyes at Hyunjin and mouthing less than kind words in the other’s direction.

“Sometimes I just wish the universe would take pity on me and make me the main character in a Studio Ghibli film.” Seungmin said from one side of Minho, pushing his salad around on his plate with a contemplative look.

On the other side of Minho, Jisung sighed wistfully and leaned backwards, “Same man, same.” He flicked a salt packet at Chan.

“Like, can I just fly around with my magic coat and flowing hair and run around barefoot all the time?”

“Well why don’t you!” Jisung leaned forward and smacked his hands on the tabletop, “What’s stopping you!”

“Maybe the fact that I can’t fucking fly you dipshit!”

“A minor inconvenience.”

“I’m gonna smack you.”

Minho leaned forward slightly to get between the two, “Let’s just… Seungmin put the fork down… Let’s just calm down.”

Both boys grumbled but complied. Jisung peered around Minho and blew Seungmin a kiss, which he graciously swatted away.

“Keep your half assed kisses for Minho!”

Minho cringed as Jisung cackled. Minho gave Seungmin a pointed look, “Uncalled for.”

“Perfectly called for.” He corrected with a sly grin, “Talk to him.” He said in a much lower tone of voice.

Minho shook his head minimally and returned his attention to the still giggling boy on his other side, “You good?”

“Seungminnie hates me.”

“He hates everyone,” Minho pointed out, “You aren’t special.”

Jisung gaped at him, “Betrayal!”

“You can’t deny it!”

“I mean I _guess_.”

Loud laughter cut through their conversation, drawing their attention to down the table where Felix and Jeongin were attempting to do an acapella version of _Bohemian Rhapsody_ as Woojin shouted for them to shut up and Hyunjin ad libbed lines in a deep voice. Jisung joined in without hesitation with a badly timed beatbox as Seungmin started hitting the table along to the beat. Minho joined in by whistling.

A waiter appeared around the corner, looking confused, “We’re gonna have to ask you guys to leave. We’re getting complaints from other patrons.”

Chan sprang from his seat, “I’m so sorry, we’re leaving now.” He turned back to the kids around the table and hissed, “Idiots.”

Woojin ushered everyone from their seats, helping to organize coats, backpacks, and Jeongin’s shoes that had ended up beneath the napkin dispenser.

Minho turned to Jisung who was struggling to pull a hoodie over his head. Minho helped pull it down, smiling at the frazzled boy who grinned back.

“Thanks hyung!”

“Course Sung, want me to walk you home?”

“Oh no don’t worry that’s like miles away from your house.”

“I can take the bus home, c’mon I get scared when you walk alone in the city.”

Jisung seemed to hesitate again, pulling his lips into a tight line.

“Ok, if you’re sure.”

Minho smiled and picked up his bag, “Never been more sure, c’mon darling we got quite the walk.”

Jisung’s eyes widened and he blushed at the nickname, but still smiled wide and picked up his own things, hurrying to catch up to Minho.

They both called goodbyes to the others who were consumed with arranging rides home to do anything more than wave them away passively. Outside, the air was still but cold as snow came down serenely, nearly knocking the breath from Minho’s lungs as he pulled his coat tighter around his body and tucked his hands beneath his arms in a desperate attempt to conserve warmth.

Beside him, Jisung began shivering, “I’m gonna kill whatever deity decided to fuck South Korea in the ass with an icicle as a dildo.”

“Honestly an icicle as a dildo would be kinda kinky. But I’m not saying no.”

“Is there anything you _don’t_ like in bed.”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.” Minho sent Jisung a quick wink that had the younger reeling backwards, slipping on the icy sidewalk and nearly toppling to the ground had Minho not steadied him.

“A baby hyung! I am a baby!”

“ _My_ baby.”

Jisung smiled at the ground, “Your baby, sure.”

Minho’s heart stuttered. He wasn’t stupid or oblivious, those traits were already reserved for Jisung,despite what Seungmin said. He knew that the beautiful, amazing, adorable boy beside him harbored feelings for him. It was obvious in how Jisung latched himself to Minho’s side, how he showed Minho his songs before anyone else, how he had a smile reserved only for Minho, how he was extra playful with Minho.

Jisung was just as whipped as Minho was.

And yet Minho couldn’t bring himself to say anything, to go over the final bridge no matter how his entire being screamed at him to.

“Hyung.”

Jisung had stopped walking while Minho had been stuck in his head and we observing Minho with puckered lips. The snow had picked up slightly, muting the sound around them and distorting the lights into a soft orange glow. And Jisung stared.

“Hyung we need to talk.”

Minho’s eyes widened just slightly in surprise, “Now?”

“If not now then when, next week, next month? These feelings aren’t gonna go away, we both know it. We can be happy.”

“Our happiness doesn’t depend on each other.”

“No.” Jisung agreed with him, smiling softly and taking an experimental step towards him, “No, but you certainly help.”

“Jisung you make everything brighter. You make the world seem softer, as if I can achieve anything. And...and I always want to do the most ridiculous things with you like count the cracks on the sidewalks or make cookies without recipes and I’ve never felt this way about anyone and _I’m scared_.” Minho knew it was the truth the second he uttered it, but hadn't known he was thinking it. He continued in a lower tone, stepping towards Jisung and taking the other’s cold hand in his own, “I’m scared shitless Jisung, what we have is good and taking another steps seems so…”

“So definite.” Jisung voiced it perfectly, understanding clear in his voice. “Minho I like you, so so much. You remove the shattered mask that I wear everyday and I’m helpless to stop it and I don’t even want to stop it because I finally feel real again. You make me feel my own again. I haven’t had that in years.”

Minho was beaming, “Can I take you on a date? We can go and play with the kittens at the animal shelters or go watch the old people play frisbee in the park or go to the beach and look for sea glass-”

“All of it.” Jisung’s eyes were glistening as he stepped even closer to Minho, “We have time for all of it Minho. I promise we have time. Let’s go on a date.”

Minho ducked his head just enough to knock their foreheads together, watching as Jisung scrunched his nose up happily.

“Can I kiss you?” Minho’s voice sounded breathless, “If it’s too soon I will wait eons for you bu-”

“Yes please.” Jisung was just as breathless, “Kiss please.”

Minho pulled away just enough to look Jisung in the eyes, bringing one of his shivering hands to caress the Jisung’s warm cheek. He watched as the other’s breath hitched, as one, two, three snowflakes settled on his hair, as his eyes fluttered delicately closed and he leaned forward just slightly.

Minho met him in a sweet, tender kiss. Jisung’s hands fisted the front of Minho’s coat as Minho cradled his face, smoothing his thumb over Jisung’s cheek delicately.

Jisung giggled into the kiss, catching Minho off guard. Minho pulled away but was pulled back by the still giggling Jisung, who peppered his mouth with short but deep kisses. Minho began giggling as well, meeting Jisung halfway.

The snow fell silently, not pleading to be observed, just falling as it wanted and not caring where it landed.

And they basked in the warmth of their love, a small pocket of fire in the chilly night.

  


_2 years later_

  


Minho woke to his phone ringing, an unfamiliar number flashing on the screen. He groaned and declined the call, checking the time before setting his phone back down. His early class had been cancelled for the day, so he had the entire morning to spend with his sleepy boyfriend who was still curled in his arms.

Jisung’s room was still shared with Mashiho, the Japanese exchange student growing into a bit of a younger brother to Jisung. Last night, however, Mashiho had cleared out to let Jisung and Minho be alone for their 2 year anniversary.

The apartment had been quick to become home for Jisung’s entire friend group, a solace away from their shitty lives where they were always accepted no matter how overcrowded it already was.

Minho attended Seoul Performing Arts, along with Chan and Changbin, studying dance on a scholarship. It was a bit of a bus ride to get to the school from his house, or more commonly Jisung’s apartment, but it was worth it to be able to be with Jisung through his senior year of high school.

Jisung shifted slightly in Minho’s arms, stretching out languidly and seeming to enjoy the sunlight reaching him in his half asleep state.

Minho ran his hand through Jisung’s hair idly, twirling the ends between his fingers. Jisung had been growing out his blond hair for a month now, wanting to return to his natural hair for graduation in a couple of months.

Relaxing back into the bed, Minho pulled Jisung closer and settled back down to sleep a little bit more. Maybe make them breakfast in a couple of time.

They had time.

 

_One New Voicemail From (xxx) xxx-xxxx_

_Hi! I hope this is Lee Minho otherwise this will be super embarrassing. I’m Taehyun, Jisung’s younger brother_ . _I hope you don’t mind, I got you number from Brian-hyung, said I’d be able to reach Jisung through you. I… I wanted to say hi and… and ask how he is. Brian-hyung told me he got into university in America but is staying in Seoul. I miss him. I wish I could’ve met you, Minho-hyung, Brian talks really highly of you. I guess I’m rambling just… I miss you Jisungie-hyung. More than you will ever know._

_I’ll see you at your graduation, look for me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm kinda sad this is over? this has been my project for months now so its strange to actually finish it
> 
> comment and kudos are greatly appreciated :)
> 
> (requests are always taken as well)

**Author's Note:**

> SO I'm not sure when the second chapter will be out but fear not it will be soon. If you even want it, idk if anyone will even like this word vomit that I created.
> 
> If you did, leave comments and kudos please, they're greatly appreciated!  
> :)


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